Flawed
by Kurome Shiretsu
Summary: Targeted by the followers of a dark wizard, Yuusuke is sent to the last place expected: into the heart of wizard society. When his Toushin powers cannot defend him, when his demon blood is an instant mark for death, how will Yuusuke survive? HP crossover
1. Men With Sticks

**Title:** Vulnerable Strength

**Rating:** PG-13, which would make it T by the site's new rating system. (Anyone know why they bothered with that?)

**Summary:** Harry Potter/YYH crossover. When he is targeted by a group of magic-wielding strangers as a prize for their 'lord', Yuusuke discovers a gaping weakness in his demonic defenses. Luckily, Koenma has a plan to keep the Toushin safe, even if it involves sending Yuusuke undercover into a school full of wizards...

**Pairings:** None as of yet, though I might get bold and try a little romance.

**Warnings:** Some violence, slight gore, and some smatterings of foul language. (It's Yuusuke, remember?)

**Author Notes:** I can't believe I'm doing it. I'm breaking two of my promises to myself. a) Never write a Harry Potter fanfiction, and b) Never write something that runs the risk of becoming average, run-of-the-mill, and/or cliche.

And here I am starting a Harry Potter/Yu Yu Hakusho crossover fanfiction.

...actually, I'm breaking three rules. I forgot c) Never start a new story without finishing one you've already started.

Whoopsie.

Suffice it to say that my life (such as it is) has become something of a waking nightmare. Family, money, and computer problems have taken too much of my interest away from Mission X for too long and I've lost my momentum. So now, I'm beginning this fic in the hopes that I can return later to finish Mission X with a new bout of creativity.

If you can be understanding about this, thank you. If not, please leave your e-mail address with your flames so I can flame back. Consider it professional courtesy.

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**)) Chapter One: _Men With Sticks _((**

Yuusuke was not having a good day.

"Name, species, rank, and reason for visit, sir."

He had completed his latest mission for the toddler (capturing a rampant bull demon run amok in downtown Tokyo) with relative ease, receiving only a few minor cuts and bruises and draining only minor amounts of his youki and reiki in the process.

"Excuse me?"

He had not taken into account, however, that he would have to transport the demon back to Reikai headquarters by himself, otherwise he would have made sure that the bull remained conscious and capable of independent motion after the fight.

"I _said_, I need your name, species, rank, and reason for visit, _sir_."

He had gotten a little too aggressive during the encounter, though, and a youki-charged roundhouse kick had ensured that the bull would not be moving anywhere under its own power for a very long time, if it ever awoke from its coma at all.

"You're kidding me, right?"

This had resulted in a rather long trek back to the nearest Reikai portal, through deserted back alleys to ensure no humans would spot him, with the four-hundred-plus pound bull draped over his shoulders like some stinking, sweaty, flea-ridden deer carcass borne back to camp by a triumphant hunter.

"Sir, it's standard check-in procedure for all Reikai staff. Name, species, rank, and reason for visit, if you please."

And upon finally --_finally!_-- reaching Reikai, where he could at last rid himself of his burden, he was now being given the run-around by a scrawny, lavender ogre secretary who refused to even look up at him from her paperwork.

Yuusuke bit back the urge to copy Hiei and set the ogre's paperwork on fire with judicious use of his raw youki, and he answered. "Urameshi Yuusuke, of Koenma's Reikai Tantei, battle demon, S-superior, and I'm here to drop off a prisoner."

_That_ got her attention. She looked up, her eyes already wide, and they grew only wider still as both his qualifications and his appearance slowly sunk into her conscious mind.

The name 'Urameshi Yuusuke' was reason enough to sit up and pay attention, but the fact that he named himself as 'of _Koenma's _Reikai Tantei' was reason to sit up, pay attention, grovel (if need be), and pray that she retained her job and/or all of her limbs after the encounter was over.

While Reikai had at least a dozen Tantei teams on staff at any given moment, Koenma personally sponsored only one Tantei team at a time, the current team, naturally, being Yuusuke himself, the psychically gifted human Kuwabara, the infamous youko thief Kurama, and the half-breed fire demon Jaganshi Hiei.

Granted, most of the team's infamy probably stemmed from Hiei's notorious temper and/or violent streak rather than the fact that Koenma personally oversaw their missions, but that was nothing to quibble over as long as they retained their reputation as _The_ Reikai Tantei.

Yuusuke reflected that he also must have looked pretty ferocious. His hair was long and wild from his recent transformation to his Toushin form, and streaks of blood (both his and the bull's) streaked his bare arms and what little skin could be seen through the tears in his shirt, adding swirled, scarlet markings to the black ones already adorning the majority of his body.

With a startled (and fearful) gasp of "Yuusuke-sama!", the secretary (now paled to an interesting shade of white-pink) waved him past.

Yuusuke smirked and continued on his way, greatly looking forward to ridding himself of his burden, and looking forward even more to returning to Ningenkai where he could pick a fight with a more worthwhile opponent, namely Hiei or Kurama.

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The interdimensional portal from Reikai closed behind him with its typical loud hiss and oh-so-subtle light show. The verdant trees and undergrowth of the Ningenkai woodland surrounded him, and he did a quick mental sweep to make certain that Reikai staff had not opened the portal near an unsuspecting hiker or camper.

He could feel only a small group of humans anywhere near, nearly two hundred yards ahead and to one side of his intended path back to the city. The weather had been almost sickeningly nice lately, so it was only natural that a few adventurous humans try their luck with a camping trip. Yuusuke dismissed them as a threat.

Now that he was back in his human form, his hair, still beyond waist-length, was far more tame, actually falling smoothly down his back and around his face instead of fluffing out in innumerable, unmanageable tufts as it did in his demon form.

He still wished that he had thought to bring a hair tie, though.

Yuusuke had given up on cutting his hair short nearly three years past, when it had become abundantly clear to him that his hair would grow out to thigh-length every time he transformed into his Toushin form. In addition to saving Kurama, Yukina, and Genkai the trouble of acting as impromptu barbers on numerous, random occasions, keeping it long also saved Yuusuke the trouble of thinking up cover stories for his hair's erratic changes in length.

Checking once more to make certain that his markings were indeed gone, Yuusuke set out through the thick plant life that made its home around the bases of the many trees. If he remembered correctly, there was a hiking trail just twenty meters or so ahead, and that path in turn would lead him back down to the park's main buildings where he could catch a bus back to the city.

During the trek, he went over the various things that he needed to do before returning home: pick up something for dinner that night, stop by Kurama's to see if the youko had any more demon-level painkillers to replenish Yuusuke's dwindling stash, and check in with Genkai to make certain that the shrine was still doing okay.

The aged martial artist, stubbornly as healthy and active as ever, had reported several worrisome incidents around the shrine. The shrine wards had been activated multiple times in the past week as though someone had crossed the boundaries, but neither Kurama's trained 'attack plants' nor Hiei himself could find a sign that anyone had tried breaching the wards. If the incidents continued, Yuusuke was considering moving back into the shrine to be on scene if anything strange did happen; over a decade of experience as a Reikai Tantei and demon lord had taught him that there was nothing wrong with being cautious.

His feet found the narrow footpath and he turned back toward civilization, his mind still pondering the mystery like a dog gnawing at an old bone.

Several minutes of walking brought him near to the group of campers, and he absently kept track of the various reiki signatures as he continued on his walk. He had washed the bull's blood off of himself back in the Reikai Main Office, so he knew that while he looked messy and somewhat roughed-up, he still fell well within the parameters of normal. He could explain his torn clothes away as an incident with brambles, and the mess his hair was in... well, that would be a bit of a stretch, but still---

"_Stupefy!_"

The young demon's entire body jerked violently to the right at the strange shout, and a bolt of sizzling red energy cut through the air where he had just been standing, an equally strange energy skittering across his senses and disappearing before he could identify it.

"What the hell---?" Yuusuke whirled and fell into a defensive crouch all in one motion, his eyes falling upon the human male standing several meters back down the path, half-hidden in the dense plant-life, clad in strange, baggy, black robes

The man paled and gulped as Yuusuke's eyes met his own, and his hand shook causing the strange stick in his grip to quiver. Abruptly, the human began to yell. "O-over here! He's over here! I've found him!"

Yuusuke double-checked and found that the person before him was indeed one-hundred percent human being. "What the hell are you _talking_ about?" he demanded, disbelief and confusion warring within him. Why would a human attack him? _How_ would a human generate an attack like that? And _what_ was with that stick?

The reiki signals that he had previously identified in his mind as a group of seven humans rapidly converged on his position, and with a great amount of rustling and crackling of the undergrowth, six more men, all clad identically to their companion, approached through the woods to form a loose half-circle around the demon, all of the humans raising their arms to point the strange sticks at Yuusuke.

All the hair along his arms and down his neck was standing on end with unease. His youki levels began to rise as the instinct to fight came to the fore, but he held himself back, imagining the shrill lecture he would recieve from Koenma if he harmed any humans against orders. "What is this about?"

The humans slowly, hesitantly --Yuusuke would dare to say 'fearfully'-- inched closer to him. One, taller than the rest, smirked. "You've hidden yourself quite well, demon. Do behave and come quietly."

Yuusuke's eyes narrowed, and various areas of skin upon his body began to sting as his demon marks warred to make themselves visible. "I never behave."

"Pity." The man did not turn his eyes away from Yuusuke, but he addressed his fellows. "Remember, our lord needs him alive. He said nothing about unharmed. _Incarcerous!_"

Yuusuke cursed loudly in surprise as ropes shot out of the tall man's stick and tangled around his torso. He exerted his demon strength and snapped the bonds with little trouble, but the delay left him hard-pressed to dodge the barrage of attacks now coming from the other men.

"_Curare!_"

"_Stupefy!_"

"_Frigidus!_"

Another jet of red light hissed by his right ear, and small, burning cuts opened all along his arms when he swiftly raised them to protect his face. He turned and leapt upward, using tree branches as footholds and attempted to flee, dodging the razor-sharp blades of ice that pursued him, his instincts screaming at him to fight back even as his mind forcefully held onto the fact that as a demon, he was forbidden to attack humans unless under Reikai orders.

"Follow him, you idiots! Don't let him out of your sight!"

At the moment, that particular law seemed _really friggin' unfair_.

Leaves showered down around him as the trees quaked with the violence of his movements, branches shaking heavily beneath his feet as he leapt further and higher, seeking distance from his opponents. No humans could keep up with a demon, after all.

No _normal_ humans, he amended with a twinge of irritation. And what sort of _normal_ humans could shoot attacks out of a bunch of stupid sticks?

"_Impedimenta!_"

He dodged instinctively, and a gust of misplaced air brushed his face as something invisible rocketed past.

He could get away. He had superior speed, superior strength, and superior energy levels. He just needed to get far enough away that he would have time to request a portal to Reikai.

_Then_ he would get orders to hunt down the bastards and show them why it wasn't smart to piss off an S-class battle demon!

"_Crucio!_"

He was not quick enough this time. Something struck him in the back, and agony seared across every nerve in his body, his demon core burning within his chest, and any hope he had for escape was wiped from his mind in the wash of absolute pain that took away thought itself.

The pain ended, but in the wake of such immense agony he didn't feel himself falling, nor did he feel it when he struck against several limbs on his way to the ground. He felt a distant impact when he hit the ground itself, and he wondered why so many hard, wet things were poking into his skin.

Opening his eyes blearily, drawing in deep, desperate draughts of air, he realized that he was lying facedown on the forest ground, surrounded again if the reiki signatures of the humans were anything to go by. He attempted to get his arms beneath him, pushing himself up slightly despite the alarming lack of strength in his limbs, but one of the humans kicked him in his ribs, knocking him onto his side and hurting him far more than such a weak attack should have been able to hurt him.

"I told you that you should have behaved."

Yuusuke bared his teeth in a primitive snarl, managing a weak growl, reaching desperately for and failing to grasp his youki, wishing nothing more than to obliterate the smug bastards from Ningenkai, and Koenma's laws be damned.

... and then he could hunt them down in Reikai and kill them again.

"You aren't still trying to fight are you?" came the mocking voice of the leader of the group of humans. "Oh, what a disobedient little demon you are."

Yuusuke attempted again to lever himself upright, spitting out curses that said just what he thought of the speaker's appearance, pastimes, breeding, and sexual preferences.

"And impolite, too," added the speaker, his tone now coldly furious. "_Crucio._"

Something struck Yuusuke in the side, and once more he was immersed in a world that consisted of nothing but pain. He bit down against the scream building in his throat. The forest faded from his sight. Images flashed in his mind of a damp cavern from so many years past, the figure of his teacher standing over him as he writhed on the stony floor, pain racing through his body.

_'... Yuusuke, I'm taking it back... Your body can't handle the strain...'_

... the orb, his teacher's gift to him, a hope that he could survive the coming battles, and a threat that he could die accepting it... brown eyes framed by silver and strawberry-blonde hair, grimly watching... brown eyes narrowed with worry... a familiar voice, trying to help him...

A scream ripped itself from his throat, but not an inarticulate scream of pain.

"_GENKAI!_"

... and the pain stopped.

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**)) _To Be Continued... _((**

**A/N:** Any good? Review, please. Also, I'd like people to tell me their opinions on whether or not the story should have romance in it, and if so, what pairing. Just remember that Yuusuke is the primary character when making suggestions. Thanks for reading.

**))_ Kurome Shiretsu _((**


	2. The Flaw

**Title:** Flawed

**Rating:** PG-13, which would make it T by the site's new rating system. (Anyone know why they bothered with that?)

**Summary:** Harry Potter/YYH crossover. When he is targeted by a group of magic-wielding strangers as a prize for their 'lord', Yuusuke discovers a gaping weakness in his demonic defenses. Luckily, Koenma has a plan to keep the Toushin safe, even if it involves sending Yuusuke undercover into a school full of wizards...

**Disclaimer:** I forgot this last time, so... I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho. If I did, Kurama would have transformed _permanently_ into Youko during his premier episode. Nor do I own Harry Potter. If I did, I'd have sued the movie companies for the people they cast to play Sirius Black and Remus Lupin.

**Pairings:** The readers have voted, and it's a hearty dose of **NO ROMANCE** all around.

**Warnings:** Some violence, slight gore, and some smatterings of foul language.

**Author Notes:** I'm glad that there are so many nice readers out there who don't scream and rant and yell when authors take unexpected literary side trips like this. Thanks for all the support, and enjoy the chapter!

Also, for clarification: readers seem a bit divided on the point that Yuusuke seemed so vulnerable to magic. Some think it's an interesting and unique idea, and others have no idea where in HFIL (only Dragonball/Z/GT people will get that reference) I'm going with it. Trust me, as with most of my seemingly random plot twists, there _is_ a reason behind it. You just have to read on to find out what it is!

Someone also asked about Yuusuke's age. For this story, he is twenty-seven years old, closing in on twenty-eight. If his life followed the tone set by the series up until this story, that means that he has _got_ to have been through a lot of weird experiences. It kind of boggles the mind.

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**)) Chapter Two:_ Open Season_ ((**

Yuusuke's first thought upon regaining consciousness was simple and to the point. That thought was that there were seven humans currently living in Ningenkai who were about to become swiftly, rudely, and painfully acquainted with Reikai.

Yuusuke's second thought upon awakening was that his plan might have to be put on hold until further notice, because at the moment, everything really hurt.

He opened his eyes slowly, noting irritably that even his eyeballs seemed to ache in the aftermath of that strange attack, but as his pupils adjusted to the dim light, he realized with relief that he had not been captured and thrown into a dungeon.

Rather, he was on a futon. A very familiar futon.

It was easy for the demon to recognize his old bedroom in Genkai's temple --there was a uniquely shaped scorch-mark gouged into the boards overhead from when one of his teacher's more violent wake-up calls had worked a little _too_ well; he had come to consciousness with the cry of "_REI GUN!_" on his lips and had nearly burned a hold straight through the roof.

It was lucky it had happened when he was still (relatively) weak. If the same incident were repeated any time soon, it would not be just the roof damaged; the whole temple would probably go up in smoke.

Muffled voices could be heard through the thin screens that acted as walls within the temple, and Yuusuke's enhanced demon hearing tracked the conversation automatically while his mind tried to pick up the scattered pieces of the puzzle titled What The Hell Happened?

"Just how long is that sociopath planning to camp out in that tree?"

His mouth twitched in a smirk as he recognized the speaker. The temple would not be the same without the hag around to keep everyone in line... It was her special ability. Even Hiei deferred to the martial artist on her home ground, and that was saying something.

"I'm not certain. He did mention something about Koenma... well, he didn't say 'Koenma,' but I know who he meant. What he said wasn't very polite."

And there was Yukina, the polite, caring Yin to Genkai's bitchy, violent Yang.

"Of course it has to do with Koenma. Whenever the Dimwit is in mortal peril, it _always_ has to do with Koenma."

"That's not very kind, Genkai."

"It's the truth. Truth doesn't need to be 'kind.'"

His thoughts meandered leisurely from one side of his head to the other, and he prodded them slowly, insistently into focus. Were he anywhere else but at the temple --a place that had been a haven for him for years-- he might have been more rushed, but knowing that he was within the temple wards with Genkai (and Hiei, if his teacher's comments were anything to go by) near made what should have been an urgent situation seem distant, and he could not summon up any guilt for taking his sweet time trying to piece things together.

The first major mystery on his To Solve list was easy: how had he gotten from a relatively deserted national park to a temple nearly fifty miles away?

If his internal clock was anything to go by, he had been unconscious for nearly two hours. A minor, ignorable ache encompassed his entire body, and he made a mental note to find out just what made that particular attack so effective. He had thought that his youki would have shielded him somewhat, but it appeared that was not the case.

Yuusuke felt off-balance at the realization that his defenses had been so easily overcome.

It stung for him to think that it had been humans who had done the 'overcoming.'

Genkai was never going to let him live this down.

Neither was Hiei.

Nor Kuwabara.

Not even Kurama, for that matter.

... well, damn.

He sat up slowly, the blanket covering him sliding down to pool in his lap. His shirt was gone --he noticed the lack of any lingering physical injuries and realized that Yukina must have healed him-- and he grimaced sardonically to think that not only had someone partially undressed him, he had also been _tucked in_.

He had a sinking feeling that this incident would be one of those embarassing stories that one's friends told at parties over and over again: _"Hey, remember that time when Yuusuke got his ass kicked by a bunch of guys with sticks?"_

He hoped that he was wrong.

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He had found a clean T-shirt waiting for him just beside the futon, and upon trying it on and feeling it pull across the shoulders and chest, he had suspected that it was left over from his early days of training at the temple. Still, it was better than going around shirtless. He was irritated that he still had yet to find a hair tie, but he resigned himself to waiting until he cleared up the present mess before he could go back to his apartment and pull the damnably annoying tangle of hair out of his face once and for all.

The various mysteries that had pushed themselves rudely into his life that afternoon still lurked in the back of his mind, but at least he knew the first step to finding out the answers, which was to speak with Genkai...

... who was, incidentally, waiting just outside of his room, an expression upon her face reminiscent of that worn by a mother who has just been told by a teacher that little Jimmy is having trouble with bullies, has problems making friends, is failing math, has trouble spelling his own name, and has contracted head lice from the little girl in the desk behind him who insists on braiding his hair.

Genkai didn't say anything, but her expression told him everything. He had spent too much time in her company to not be able to read her. A particular slant to her eyes said she was stressed, the twist of her mouth said she was annoyed...

... and the Look she was giving him stated, '_If I hadn't spent so much time training your sorry ass already and if I weren't too old to take on another successor, you'd be bouncing down the temple steps right now, Dimwit, and serve you right for all the trouble you put me through._'

Yuusuke surpressed a sigh. "I don't guess you're going to tell me what the hell's going on, are you?"

"From what I've been told, you ran afoul of a group of _gifted_ humans." Yuusuke decided that he did not like the way her mouth twisted strangely when she said 'gifted.' He decided that there was something more there that she was not telling him. "The Forbidden One brought you in, and Yukina and I had to put you back together."

Yuusuke reflected that if Hiei had been the one to stumble across him, then it was unlikely that he would be able to carry out his earlier plans involving the humans after all since it was now very doubtful that there were any of the humans left alive to carry out his plans on.

Shame.

Then it struck him, what Genkai had said about putting him 'back together.'

Yuusuke bristled. "I wasn't _that_ bad off," he said, indignant.

"Want to bet on that?" she asked archly.

Yuusuke blinked, took a long look at the deadly serious expression on his mentor's face, and decided that no, he did not.

The old martial artist turned abruptly and marched down the hall toward the front of the shrine. "Keep up, Dimwit. There's a lot you need to know, and we don't have much time before Botan gets here."

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Genkai decided that their 'talk' was going to take place outside on the front patio area of the temple. Yuusuke had wondered at this until he realized that Hiei was also outside; Genkai probably wanted to be near enough so that the fire demon could add whatever comments were pertinent to the discussion. Yuusuke still really wanted to know how it had come about that Hiei had been near enough to do away with the seven humans and bring Yuusuke to the temple, and he made a note to have a discussion with the Jaganshi soon, hopefully within the day.

They passed Yukina as she was entering the temple, probably from asking Hiei about her lost brother, and she greeted Yuusuke kindly. When she began worriedly asking him about his injuries, he had to reassure her that her care of his various cuts and bruises had been more than effective and very much appreciated. She had seemed pleased at that and had continued inside, and now Yuusuke found himself kneeling outside facing his teacher and obediently recounting his afternoon when she ordered him to do so. Her look was so intense that he did not even bother with a sarcastic retort and instead kept entirely to the facts.

The entire situation had him off-balance. It was a sad day when he could not bring himself to say something smart-aleck when presented with the perfect opportunity.

The story took several minutes to tell.

When Yuusuke recounted the leader of the humans mentioning his 'lord', Genkai's eyes narrowed so much that Yuusuke thought she might develop a permanent squint.

Feeling something akin to embarassment uncurling in his stomach, he skimmed over the part where the attack had induced a hallucination/dream/memory that had made him relive his early training during his first Dark Tournament. There were some things that the old lady just did not need to know.

He finished his narration, and Genkai looked thoroughly put-out about something.

"You certainly never do anything by halves," she groused.

"Are you going to fill me in, now?" asked Yuusuke, feeling irritable and confused and still achy deep in his chest. "What is all this about?"

Genkai frowned. "I'm not sure," she admitted. "But you've caught _his_ attention pretty well if he's sending his followers after you, so you're up to your neck in problems already."

"Who's _'he'_?"

Yuusuke's teacher glared at nothing in particular. "He calls himself Voldemort." Her lips quirked into a sardonic grin. "Voldemort_-sama_. Everyone else seems to call him You-Know-Who or He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, though, the idiots."

The young demon was digesting the information, feeling put-out that he had never heard of this _Voldemort_ person before. "Is he a demon?"

"Close enough. Actually, worse for you, he's a wizard."

Yuusuke blinked. "... Wizard?"

"A rather dark one, yes."

"As in wands and witches and brooms and spells and all that?"

"Yes."

Yuusuke started to laugh, noticed that his teacher did not look in the least amused, and stopped himself. He reconsidered. "You're actually serious."

"Deadly serious. I've had dealings with their kind before. Bunch of secretive nuts, even more so than most demons I've met. They've got a whole society running right under the noses of almost every government worldwide, and none of the normal humans have a clue." She paused, looking pensive. "Those men you met were wizards. They sound like _his _followers, called Death Eaters. The sociopathic tree-hugger out there verified it for me."

Yuusuke was almost positive that he heard something growl out near the edge of the trees, but he ignored it with the ease of long practice.

"Verified how?"

The old woman tapped her forearm. "They each had a tattoo, here. A skull with a snake coming out of the mouth. They call it the Dark Mark. It's Voldemort's symbol."

Yuusuke scoffed. "Well, that's severely stupid. Why would you brand your underlings like cattle? Makes it kind of hard for them to do undercover work, doesn't it?"

Genkai arched an eyebrow. "Yes, it is 'severely stupid,' but then, he's never been famous for his common sense."

The young demon spent several moments pondering the conversation. The revelation of _wizards_, while unexpected, was something he could live with. Hell, he was a twice-resurrected human-turned-demon who worked for the God of the Dead as a detective. Magic really was not that weird.

Abruptly, his forehead creased with a frown, and he glanced over at Genkai. "You said it was worse for me that he's a wizard. Why would it be worse? He can't be stronger than Sensui or the lords of the Makai."

Genkai nodded once. "True, and technically you're right. He isn't stronger than Sensui or the demon lords --in terms of energy levels, anyway-- but you're at a disadvantage."

Oh, he did not like the sound of that. "What do you mean?"

"It's one of the weaknesses of demonkind as a whole," she said, her mouth twisted again in that strange way that said she was both annoyed and trying to carefully think something through at the same time. "It's a flaw in their evolution. Youki is a very physical sort of energy; it boosts the body's abilities and can create attacks with very physical effects, like your own youki blasts, the Fox's plants, or the Forbidden One's black dragon attack. Reiki is very similar, but on a more subtle level, with less possibilities, and it's not quite as potent.

"Magic, as wizards use it, is different." She frowned. "I once heard someone describe it as an evolutionary anomaly, a mutation. It's reiki that's been... twisted, energy on a completely different wavelength than youki, and the wizard's have found ways to mold it in ways that I would never believe possible.

"But that's the problem." She looked grim, and Yuusuke had long ago learned that if _she_ thought something was grim, then things were very, very bad. "Their magic is too different. Wizards are highly resistant to the effects of magic due to the fact that they have that same energy within them. Normal humans are _somewhat _resistant due to their reiki, which is similar. Youki is no defense against it whatsover; magic can pass through it as though it weren't even there."

"But I have reiki, too!" he objected. "What---"

"And it helped," she interrupted firmly. "You were in better condition than a purebred demon could hope to have been. That particular curse, the cruciatus, is a nasty piece of business. It can kill a high-level demon in under five minutes." She eyed him appraisingly. "You probably could have lasted eight."

"I---" He floundered, but he could find nothing to say. He wanted to yell that he was not that weak, that he had survived worse than a stupid attack from a mis-evolved human, but Genkai spoke again, her eyes strangely kind.

"I'm not trying to be cruel, Yuusuke, but I have to know that you understand the danger." She caught and held his gaze as though she were trying to make certain that her words would stay imprinted in his mind. "The Makai was not sealed just to protect the humans from the demons. It was to save the demons from being completely wiped out."

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**)) _To Be Continued..._ ((**

**A/N:** Next chapter will bring in more of the Harry Potter universe, explain more about Hiei's rescue of Yuusuke, and feature Koenma's Big Plan.

**)) _Kurome Shiretsu_ ((**


	3. Never Trust a Toddler

**Title:** Flawed

**Rating:** PG-13, which would make it T by the site's new rating system.

**Summary:** Harry Potter/YYH crossover. When he is targeted by a group of magic-wielding strangers as a prize for their 'lord', Yuusuke discovers a gaping weakness in his demonic defenses. Luckily, Koenma has a plan to keep the Toushin safe, even if it involves sending Yuusuke undercover into a school full of wizards...

**Disclaimer: **I own neither Harry Potter nor Yu Yu Hakusho.

**Pairings:** none

**Warnings:** Some violence, slight gore, and some smatterings of foul language.

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**)) Chapter Three:_ Never Trust a Toddler_ ((**

Yuusuke tugged uncomfortably on the small pendant now hanging around his neck, a silver chain with a charm shaped into the kanji for phoenix, and reflected that this was one of those days when he should have just stayed in bed.

"Stop fidgeting," snapped Genkai impatiently. "You're drawing attention."

"And you're not, of course," he griped, sending a pointed look at her red and white clothing and thunderous expression, but he forced his hands down to his sides and resisted the temptation to pull at the strange, loose clothing that he had been ordered into. His only consolation was that he looked nothing like the seven humans had; if anyone had tried to get him to wear one of those black circus tents, there would have been violence imminent.

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_Yuusuke's senses had just brushed against a familiar youki signature nearby when Hiei spoke up from his perch in one of the temple trees._

_"The Fox is here,"_

_Genkai grunted. Yuusuke frowned. A mere moment later, the alarm for the layer of wards that Yuusuke himself had set up around the temple went off, causing his core to tingle with a sensation not unlike that of 'pins and needles.' _

_There were four layers of defense around the temple. Genkai's wards, which alerted her to any visitor's presence and prevented any demons from entering but those she permitted. Next were Hiei's wards (set up, Yuusuke suspected, more for the benefit of Yukina than out of any loyalty he might have to Yuusuke or Genkai) which burned any demons that had not been keyed to enter the temple grounds. Then came Kurama's 'attack plants' which would capture and hold any demons not keyed to the wards. Last came Yuusuke's wards, youki-based, which would physically repel any visitors, human or demon, who wished harm to any of the temple's common inhabitants._

_Thinking about the wards reminded Yuusuke of one of his reasons for concern prior to his encounter with the wizards: the multiple activations of the outermost temple wards by persons unknown._

_Before he could dwell further on the extra mystery, the distinctive red of Kurama's hair appeared in the corner of his vision, and he turned just as the reborn youko, wearing the black uniform of a local college student, crested the temple stairs with some sort of pack slung over his shoulder. His hair had grown at least a foot in the past years, and today he had it pulled back in a low tail. His eyes fell upon Yuusuke and Genkai, and he crossed the temple courtyard at a quick walk._

_"Genkai, Yuusuke," he greeted as he came nearer. He smiled slightly at the former and smirked teasingly at the latter. "I've been told that you've had an interesting day."_

_"Interesting like a root canal," grumbled the Toushin ruefully. "I _would_ say 'It can only get better,' but I have a bad habit of proving myself wrong."_

_"At least Kuwabara doesn't know."_

_"Not yet," snorted Yuusuke._

_"Not yet," agreed Kurama readily. The fox-demon turned toward Genkai. "Botan didn't specify how many you wanted, so I packed three sets. I brought what I could find that might fit, but there's no guarantee. I'm not used to sizing someone from memory, after all."_

_"You're both close enough in size."_

_Yuusuke's frown went from irritated to puzzled, and his eyes automatically zeroed in on the small backpack borne by the youko. "Do I dare ask?" he inquired wearily._

_Kurama chuckled. "Well, you didn't think that you'd be venturing into wizarding society in blue jeans and a T-shirt, did you?"_

_Alarm bells rang dissonantly in the back of Yuusuke's mind. "_Into_ wizarding society?" he asked warily. "I'm sorry. I must have misheard you. Isn't that where I need to keep _away _from?"_

_The youko blinked, raised an eyebrow, and glanced at Genkai._

_"He just woke up," she explained. "We haven't gotten that far yet."_

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The portal from Reikai had set Yuusuke down a mere three meters from his mentor who stood waiting for him in a dingy alley, a towering skyscraper on one side and a brick wall that rose nearly two stories overhead on the other. The wall had born a mural of a building reminiscent of a fuedal era palace, and Yuusuke had not had time to take in more than the unnatural brightness of the colors before Genkai had grabbed him and tugged him through the wall.

Now the pair was walking across an open courtyard toward said palace, and Yuusuke's instincts were ricocheting around his skull in a panic as his eyes took in the multitudes of oddly-clad men and women around him, almost every one bearing one of those damned sticks in hand. He wished that Kurama, Hiei, or Kuwabara had been cleared to accompany him on the mission... hell, even the Grandma was only along to see him off safely... but the rest of his Tantei team had other missions that Koenma needed completed to help clean up the current mess.

"Koenma is _insane_," he hissed vehemently, his eyes forever scanning their strange surroundings for any sign of a threat. "Abso-freaking-lutely _insane_. This is suicide."

"Death hasn't been a problem for you before."

"That doesn't mean I _like_ dying!"

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_He took a few dubious steps across the room, frowning as the strange clothing shifted oddly with his movements, the lengths of fabric hanging from his waist in front and in back swaying and twining around his legs._

_"A little long," came Kurama's verdict from where the youko stood across the room. "And tight in the shoulders, too, but then, you've always been broader than me."_

_"Is this really necessary?" asked Yuusuke. If he had known that he would spend his afternoon trying on sets of Kurama's old tournament robes to find something to wear to blend in with wizards --some of whom were out to capture him for reasons unknown,-- he would have stayed in bed._

_"For what Botan was hinting Koenma has planned? Yes. Robes like these are not common," explained Kurama, "but they really do strongly resemble some of the clothes worn by Japanese wizards. They're certainly more common than muggle clothes... ah, that's non-wizard clothes."_

_Yuusuke sent a dubious frown toward his friend. "Do I want to know how you know this?"_

_Kurama smiled, his fangs oddly noticeable. "Youko had a few encounters, and I've been exploring before. It's good practice for me. The Japanese wizards really are quite clever with some of the methods they use to stay secret."_

_"I'll bet, since Kuwabara and I are both spiritually aware and haven't had a clue." Yuusuke tugged at the loose, white silk sleeves, admitting to himself that, while unfamiliar, the clothes at least were not hot or restricting. _

_"It could be worse," said Kurama factually, kneeling on the floor to neatly fold the other two sets of robes that had already been tried and deemed usable. "A lot of the wizards I saw wore robes similar to formal kimono. At least in these you'll be able to move if or rather, knowing you, _when_ you get into a fight."_

_Yuusuke sent an amused look at the grinning youko. "Thanks for your vote of confidence."_

_"You're welcome. Oh, I almost forgot." Kurama reached into the back one more time, digging deep in the bottom. "You always lose these." The youko smirked playfully and held up a circle of black elastic. "And you always whine about it."_

_Yuusuke caught the hair tie with ease and no small amount of relief. "Kurama, you are a _saint."

_The other young man let out a snort of amused laughter. "Hardly."_

_There was a flare of reiki outside the temple, and the muffled yet easily distinguishable voice of Botan drifted into the temple. Yuusuke quickly pulled his hair back into a low ponytail. Kurama finished packing the robes back into the pack along with Yuusuke's original clothing._

_"That would be your ride to Reikai. You've got the robes, then," said the youko unnecessarily. "I stopped by your apartment before I came here, and I took the liberty of grabbing a few gems out of your hoard for you to sell for money. They're in the bag."_

_Yuusuke's eyes widened. "How did you know---" He broke off and closed his eyes, shaking his head. "The great thief, Youko Kurama. Duh. Of _course_ you could find my money stash. Did my wards just ignore you or what?"_

_Kurama chuckled. "A youko never tells."_

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Teacher and apprentice ascended the long stairs leading to the main doors of the towering building, and Yuusuke noted with relief that the looks directed their way were short and disinterested. The doors loomed ahead, nearly twenty feet tall and made of a dark wood that seemed very ancient, with huge oriental lion statues seated haughtily on either side. Yuusuke could not see any means for opening the doors unless he was meant to simply push them open, and he reached out---

"**Who are you, and what is your business here?**"

He whirled to confront the owner of the booming, bass voice, and looked up... and up... and up into the cold stone eyes of one of the statues which had turned its head to watch him with an expression of cool, if intimidating, disinterest.

"We're here on business," stated Genkai briskly, not sparing the lion statue more than a passing glance. "Genkai and a student, unregistered."

The statue seemed to ponder this. "**You are welcome, Genkai and Student Unregistered.**"

Genkai snorted. Yuusuke did not think that it would be worth the effort to correct a towering stone golem about his correct name and let it slide. The doors swung ponderously open a mere moment later, and Yuusuke and Genkai continued onward, Genkai still amused.

"Unimaginative hunks of granite," she said. "They're magical constructs. If you couldn't tell, they tend to be very literal."

Yuusuke glanced back over his shoulder as the doors swung closed, checking to make certain that neither of the statues was about to try for a surprise attack. "I hadn't noticed."

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_"Yuusuke!" Botan's expression brightened when she caught sight of him exiting the shrine, and she swooped lower on her oar to hover above and in front of him. "Oh, you're looking much better. Koenma-sama's in a real tizzy about this whole mess, but he said that he's been making arrangements for you. Everyone's up in arms to help!"_

_"Hey, Botan." Yuusuke grinned at his longtime friend, wondering deep in his mind whether he should be more worried about Koenma's 'arrangements' or who Botan meant when she said 'everyone.' Oh, well. The best way to learn is to ask questions. "Do I dare ask what you mean by 'everyone'?"_

_"Why, _everyone_, silly!" she chortled, waving one hand (hidden from sight by the pink sleeve of her kimono) at him teasingly. "Koenma-sama and the ogres have been going through _piles_ of paperwork to find clues about the wizards and to set up your cover story. Kurama's been getting clothes for you --which you know already, I can see." She looked pointedly at his new attire. "Hiei's been here reinforcing the wards to keep away all the seeking spells you have after you. Shizuru and Kuwabara are in wizarding Tokyo to get the latest news on Voldemort's movements... I bet you didn't know Shizuru was a witch, did you? Well, neither did Kuwabara, the poor dear... Genkai has written letters to some of her old wizard friends to ask for information and get you a job, and I've been running errands and delivering those letters back and forth... all the way to England!"_

_It took several moments for Yuusuke's mind to take all of the information in, and then there were even more questions to take the place of what few had been answered. "Seeking spells? Genkai's wizard friends? _Job?"

_Kurama let out a soft cough that sounded suspiciously like a laugh. _

_Genkai looked annoyed at needing to supply another explanation. "Seeking spells," she explained, "are spells that wizards use to find something. Have you forgotten all those times that the temple wards have been activated recently? Now that we know about the wizards after you, we think that those were seeking spells keyed to your youki, drawn here by your wards."_

_Yuusuke pushed his bangs back out of his eyes, still confused. "But how are you friends with wizards? When did _that_ happen?"_

_"I haven't been confined to Japan for the whole of my life, Dimwit," stated the martial artist acerbically. "I travelled through Britain just after the second World War, after the defeat of another dark wizard who was trying for world domination. Demons had been drawn to Europe due to the war's aftermath. It was a good training opportunity._

_"If you want specifics," she added, "my friend's name is Aberforth --I did him a favor once, helping him subdue an angry bicorn,-- and he's the brother of the wizard you're going to stay with."_

_"But---"_

_"Now, now, Yuusuke," Botan interrupted. "We _are _on a schedule here, and Koenma still needs to talk to you. He'll answer any questions, but we have to hurry or you'll miss your appointment, and Kurama and Genkai still have other things they need to do."_

_Before Yuusuke could protest, Hiei had appeared at his elbow, looking thoroughly annoyed, and Botan's oar, complete with Botan, was directly overhead._

_"Everyone ready?" asked the ferrygirl. "Okay... ready, set, go!"_

_Ningenkai disappeared in a flash of brilliant reiki, and Yuusuke's questions were left unanswered._

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Yuusuke had never seen so many strange things in his life, and considering his line of work, that was saying quite a bit. The hallways within the huge palace were crowded with innumerable witches and wizards, no two clad alike, and small multicolored oriental dragons, about the size of grass snakes, darted overhead, bearing message scrolls to unknown destinations.

"Stop staring," Genkai ordered. "They're illusions. And stop tugging on that pendant! If you break that chain..." She let the warning hang.

Yuusuke jerked his hand away from the necklace once more, not having realized that he had been fidgeting with it again. "Sorry."

In the privacy of his own mind, he acknowledged that he had every right to be nervous. First, strange wizards had attacked him in the hopes of capturing him for a power-mad, mutated, not-quite-human warlord, then he was informed of his utter vulnerability to magic in general, and then Koenma had come up with _this_ as a plan to keep Yuusuke safe.

_Safe_. In the midst of an entire society that would not hesitate to lock him up and/or kill him should they ever discover his demonic origins.

For all that Koenma inhabited such an immature body, Yuusuke was beginning to suspect that his employer was senile.

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_Botan had dropped the two demons just before the main doors of the Reikai Main Office._

_"Sorry, boyos, but I can't go in with you. Koenma needs me to fetch something from Makai for the mission, and I've got to get my rear in gear to get back on time! Don't get lost!"_

_With that, the Grim Reaper turned her oar in a tight one-eighty and soared away, disappearing into a portal that opened before her several moments later._

_"I have never seen so many portals used by Reikai in my life," muttered Yuusuke. "Koenma really _must_ be in a 'tizzy'."_

_The Toushin turned back toward the doorway only to find that Hiei had walked on ahead. Yuusuke growled in irritation and jogged to catch up, realizing that this was most likely the only time anywhere in this entire messed-up day that he would get to question the Jaganshi._

_Conversations with Hiei were always one of two things: interesting or painful; interesting because the Jaganshi had a truly unique, if grim, outlook on life and a wicked, if easy-to-miss, sense of humor. _

_... painful because trying to start one of the aforementioned conversations was like pulling the teeth of a particularly ill-tempered alligator: impossible without the proper skills and so very masochistic._

_Unfortunately for Yuusuke, he had nothing better to occupy himself with during the long trek through the halls of the Reikai Main Office, and he wanted answers. He could only hope that this conversation turned into one of the former kinds instead of the latter._

_"So you were the one who found me."_

_"Hn."_

_So far, the conversation was not looking promising._

_"What's confusing me is how you were able to find me at all. I was pretty far in the boonies. Did you need to see me for some reason?"_

_"I had orders from Koenma."_

_"To give to me?"_

_"To babysit you."_

_Yuusuke blinked. He had not heard that particular phrase from Hiei in a while. "Then where were you when I came back from Reikai? I couldn't sense you around."_

_The Jaganshi growled irritably, but Yuusuke determined that since there was no sign of the fire demon's katana being drawn any time soon, he was not the object of Hiei's anger._

_"The incompetents in Reikai messed up," came the grudging explanation. "They were supposed to hold you until I could arrive; they obviously didn't. Then when they opened a second portal to Ningenkai for me to pass through, they got the coordinates wrong. I arrived nearly three miles north of you."_

_Yuusuke whistled, not envying the Reikai ogres their fate when Hiei caught up with them. Hiei hated incompetence almost more than he hated being called 'shorty' by Kuwabara._

_Almost._

_In a stunning display of loquaciousness, Hiei continued. "I had to track you with the Eye, but all the energy from their attacks had masked where you were, and your youki was low and hard to spot anyway."_

_Yuusuke's forehead creased in confusion. "Then how did you find me?"_

_The Jaganshi sent a brief, indecipherable, wine-red glance his way, his steps never faltering._

_"You screamed."_

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The hallway abruptly ended, and Yuusuke found himself and his teacher in a long room lined on either side by fireplaces. The ceiling overhead was decorated in a mural of oriental dragons and phoenixes twining in and out of clusters of clouds, and Yuusuke nearly ground to a halt altogether as he noticed that said dragons and phoenixes were moving.

"Keep walking," ordered Genkai sternly. "That's the least of what's ahead of you."

"Wonderful." Yuusuke shook his head and brought his mind back to the present. "If nothing else, I'll never be bored while I'm away."

"You have no idea."

Yuusuke scanned the room, and he puzzled over the excessive use of fireplaces as an aesthetic feature until he noticed people stepping into and out of various fires.

Green fires.

"Is this some sort of wizard hazing ritual?" he joked. "Trial by fire?"

"_Travel_ by fire," she corrected him. "Your ride to England."

"... I _know _that you just didn't imply that I have to step into a lit fireplace."

"Idiot."

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_For the first time in Yuusuke's memory, Koenma's desk wasn't stacked to neck-height with papers. Rather, the spacious surface of the desk was completely clear except for a small black box sitting directly before Koenma, who was watching the wall monitor with an expression of deep thinking upon his chubby, toddler's face._

_"Heya, Half-Pint," greeted Yuusuke casually as he and Hiei entered. Hiei opted to lean against the wall beside the doorway when Yuusuke further approached the desk. _

_"You're late." Koenma glanced at him. "We've got to move pretty quickly now if you're going to get there on time."_

_Yuusuke smirked good-naturedly. "Why do I get the feeling my day's just gonna get worse from here?"_

_"Maybe Shizuru's powers are rubbing off on you. Watch the screen."_

_He turned obediently, leaning a hip against the desk and crossing his arms. The viewscreen lit up with a picture of one of the most malformed creatures Yuusuke had ever come across. "A demon?" he asked._

_"Not quite. Meet Tom Marvolo Riddle," explained Koenma, "Now known primarily as You-Know-Who, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, or Voldemort-_sama_." Yuusuke noted that the '_-sama_' had a distinctive mocking overtone, and he concluded that this Voldemort guy really must have some sort of huge superiority complex for both Koenma and Genkai to sneer at the honorific. "Location: currently unknown, though we suspect that he's somewhere in England. Goals: world domination, among other things. He's a believer in pureblood wizard supremacy; anyone without magic or descended from anyone without magic is only good for target practice... Ironic, really, since he's only half-wizard himself. This is the guy that has his sights set on you."_

_"Naturally. He's mutated, power-hungry, prejudiced, and insane. What's not to like?" Yuusuke's mind was busy assimilating all of the information as he fell into the familiar role of a Tantei operative during a briefing. "Why's he want me?"_

_"That's what I'm getting to. We've been monitoring him for a long time. In addition to somehow going MIA on his scheduled death-date nearly sixteen years ago, he's caused enough unscheduled deaths for it to be a problem for Reikai. About two months back, several operatives reported on a rumor that a group of his followers had made an appearance in Japan, and we investigated. We couldn't find anything until there was an attack on a wizard-run magical museum nearly seven weeks ago. We sent Kurama in to investigate... you were on an extended case in Makai at the time, I believe."_

_"The slave ring," Yuusuke affirmed. "That's right."_

_"The item that was stolen was something called the Akumano Scroll. I'll eat my hat if I knew how Reikai artifact workers managed to leave _that _little doozy in Ningenkai for so long, but they did, and now Voldemort's got his paws on it." The screen showed a rather ratty looking piece of parchment, half-unfurled, and Yuusuke's eyes narrowed as he caught sight of the writing on the parchment._

_"Isn't that---?"_

_"Mmm-hmm. Demonic writing." Koenma sighed a sigh that had just a tinge of a whimper accompanying it. "I normally wouldn't worry overmuch since no human could read that without help, but Voldemort is a _wizard_ and he has this annoying habit of beating the odds time and again. Also, the question rises, how would he know the value of the Scroll without a demon or demon expert to tell him about it?"_

_"So what sort of power does that scrap of paper have that a would-be world dominator would want?"_

_"The Akumano Scroll is a set of instructions." Koenma's pacifier bobbled as the godling worried at it. "It details a ritual that a human can use to drain a demon's youki and add it to the wizard's own powers. After the Scroll's disappearance, Reikai set out to monitor all the strongest demons to be found. You were at the top of the list, the only S-class currently residing in Ningenkai, so when I heard a report earlier today that wizards unfamiliar to the area had been seen nearby, I set Hiei to watch you... That didn't work out quite the way I thought it would."_

_A loud, derisive snort came from Hiei._

_"You're still technically on parole, you know!" snapped the toddler. _

_"As you love to remind me," came the Jaganshi's dry rejoinder._

_Koenma huffed. "In any case, the best thing for us to do is to get you to the last place that Voldemort will dare enter. We've been working overtime since the attack to get it all arranged; it simplified things that Genkai knew a wizard who is kin to the wizard who will be helping you..."_

_"Aberforth, right?" asked Yuusuke. "She mentioned him. Something about a bicorn."_

_"Aberforth Dumbledore, that's right." Koenma abruptly snickered. "I don't know about a bicorn. From what I heard, she helped him out with some trouble he got into for, and I quote, 'practicing innappropriate charms on a goat.' But in any case, Aberforth is brother to a man named Albus Dumbledore. On the screen."_

_A new picture appeared, this one of a man clad in violently purple robes and an equally violently purple, pointy hat, delicate gold spectacles perched upon his nose in front of the most deviously twinkling blue eyes Yuusuke had ever seen, and the image was completed by the thick white hair and beard that fell far past the wizard's waist._

_"That's the man that Genkai and, by extension, Aberforth have spoken to on your behalf. He's the headmaster of a wizarding school, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, which is where we're going to hide you."_

_Doubt began to bloom in earnest in the back of his mind. "I thought that wizards hated demons."_

_"They do."_

_"And demons are weak against magic."_

_"They are."_

_"So they'll probably kill me the second that they realize what I am!"_

_"That," said Koenma proudly, "is what this little beauty is for!" He held up the as-of-yet inconspicious black box, holding it toward Yuusuke. The Toushin took it with trepidation, suspecting that another of Koenma's radical plots was afoot._

_However, upon opening the box --slowly, carefully, and with all due caution,-- all he found was a simple silver chain, complete with a kanji charm representing 'phoenix.' _

_"Gee, Koenma," he said with a smirk, "I'm sorry to disappoint, but I walk the straight and narrow, y'know?"_

_The godling blushed scarlet. "Shut up and put it on, you delinquent!"_

_Yuusuke laughed, and he suspected that he heard Hiei snicker, but he obeyed and clasped the chain around his neck. "So, what's so special about this thing, other than as a symbol of your undying affection?"_

_"The only thing in this room that's going to be _'undying'_ is me unless you cut the crap and pay attention!" snapped the toddler. "It's an energy-masking charm. Unless you take it off --which I _heartily_ suggest you _do not_,-- no one can sense your youki for what it is. In addition, it's got a few low-level shielding spells and a FastLearner charm on it to help you master your pitiful English skills sooner. Of course, we wouldn't have had to go through the trouble if you hadn't skipped out on the majority of your foreign language courses at school."_

_"If I hadn't skipped so many classes, I wouldn't have gotten hit by that stupid car," Yuusuke pointed out, "and you would have been out one tame S-class battle demon for your Tantei team."_

_Koenma grumbled something unintelligible at that. Yuusuke spent a moment pulling his hair out of the circle of the chain before his eyes narrowed._

_"You said you were hiding me at a school? Pig Pimples or something?"_

_"Hogwarts," Koenma corrected. "Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Too bad you can't learn their brand of magic, it would have made things _much_ simpler, but Genkai has already written to Dumbledore, and he replied that he would be able to work around it."_

_"You enrolled me as a _student!"

_Koenma blinked. "Oh, no. You're going to teach."_

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Yuusuke dubiously scooped up a handful of the strange, gritty powder, and the scent of soot and lightning brushed against his nose. "Are you sure this stuff works? I just have to yell out where I'm going?"

"Extremely certain." She frowned. "You want to go to 'Ministry of Magic, London, England.' And speak _very_ clearly. It's too bad that you can't floo directly to the school itself, but international floo lines only connect between ministries. In any case, remember the names I told you: Aberforth Dumbledore, Albus Dumbledore, and Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. If you can keep those straight, then you'll be fine."

"Hurry it up!" whined an unidentified female from behind them. "We've all got places to get to, too, you know!"

Yuusuke looked at Genkai. "Grandma..."

"You'll be met at the Ministry," she said briskly. "They'll be expecting you. Remember those names."

"Aberforth, Albus, Hogwarts. Right." The powder was beginning to stick to his palm, but he squared his shoulders and strode toward the fire, raising his hand. Genkai called out one last time.

"And for kami's sake, Dimwit, if you ever hear the word _avada_, attack first and ask dumb questions later!"

The powder was consumed by the flames, turning them green. "_Ministry of Magic, London, England!"_

The world was washed away in a tide of emerald light.

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**)) _To Be Continued..._ ((**

**A/N:** Next, Yuusuke meets the welcoming committee and experiences a severe bout of culture shock.

**)) _Kurome Shiretsu_ ((**


	4. In London

**Title:** Flawed

**Rating:** PG-13, which would make it T by the site's new rating system.

**Summary:** Harry Potter/YYH crossover. When he is targeted by a group of magic-wielding strangers as a prize for their 'lord', Yuusuke discovers a gaping weakness in his demonic defenses. Luckily, Koenma has a plan to keep the Toushin safe, even if it involves sending Yuusuke undercover into a school full of wizards...

**Disclaimer: **I own neither Harry Potter nor Yu Yu Hakusho.

**Pairings:** none

**Warnings:** Some violence, slight gore, and some smatterings of foul language.

**A/N:** Sorry for the late update. I've been out of town and busy working. Plus, it's _hard_ to write Snape and Malfoy!

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**)) Chapter Four:_ In London_ ((**

_Headmaster Dumbledore,_

_My student and successor, Urameshi Yuusuke, has managed to attract a sizeable amount trouble to himself. Wizards that I and others suspect to be affiliated with Death Eaters have targeted him as someone of interest to Voldemort._

_Through my correspondence with your brother Aberforth, I have learned of your school and your many stands against Voldemort and his followers. While he knows nothing of Western magic and less than that about actually _using_ it, Yuusuke is surprisingly skilled in the various Eastern forms of wandless energy manipulation and is one of the few people in the world that could be considered an expert on demonkind. He would make an able, if different, addition to your staff or, if nothing else, a formidable watchdog for your school._

_Despite his headstrong nature, quick temper, and immaturity, Yuusuke is a strong boy with unique abilities. If you can put up with him long enough, I'm sure you'll find something useful for him to do._

_-Genkai_

_PS- If he gives you any trouble, tell him I said behave or I'll make Sensui seem like a spring breeze compared to what he can expect when I see him again._

Severus Snape scanned the letter one more time. "I can't decide whether this 'Genkai' person thinks the boy a fantastically skilled student or a bloody useless incompetent."

Seated in the warm comfort of his office, Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, smiled in amusement. "From what Aberforth tells me, Genkai is a formidable woman. If she took the boy on as her apprentice, she must have seen some worth in him." The twinkle dimmed somewhat. "And if Voldemort--" Severus hid a small flinch. "--has such a great interest in the boy, then there must be something very extraordinary about him."

"This," Severus indicated the letter. "says that the boy is 'an expert on demonkind.' The Dark Lord has been preoccupied of late with researching the darker creatures of the lower planes. I suspect he might be seeking a way to build an army to bolster his Death Eaters."

"All the more reason to ensure that Urameshi is safe and out of Voldemort's hands."

"And he's coming here?"

"In a few hours, in fact. He should be arriving at the Ministry around ten o'clock this morning."

Severus raised an inquiring eyebrow. "A Japanese non-wizard wandering around the English Ministry of Magic. What poor fool did you enlist to babysit for you this time?"

Albus smiled benignly and plucked a sherbert lemon from the small dish upon his desk, placing the sweet in his mouth. His eyes twinkled brightly as he replied. "Now, Severus, you _have_ been asking for an assignment away from the castle..."

The younger man's eyes widened, then narrowed. "Oh, no. No, you _don't_. There's no way I'm going to spend part of my summer playing tour guide for some foreigner who hasn't even touched a wand!"

"Severus, that's hardly fair," the headmaster chided gently. "Take Draco with you for company; he's been as restless as you lately, and I believe he's had lessons in various languages. You can even stop by Diagon Alley and visit the apothecary for those potions ingredients you were needing if you like."

"Don't try to manipulate me into this!"

"Manipulate? Severus, really, I'm merely asking a favor. The boy is in danger from Voldemort, and you are one of the best duelists on staff. Neither Filius nor I can be spared from renewing the school wards, and I wouldn't trust anyone else with this."

"I refuse," stated the Potions Master firmly, glaring. "I will not. There is no way in heaven, earth, or hell that I am going to let you guilt trip me into turning bodyguard for yet another spoiled, arrogant brat!"

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Severus glanced up at the hideously ornate clock tower set at the center of the Ministry of Magic's atrium. The garish monument, orbited by golden stars trailing multicolored sparks, had taken the place of the shudder-inducing golden statues that had resided in the Ministry fountain prior to the Dark Lord's attempt upon the Department of Mysteries several years past. The timepiece read fifty minutes past nine.

"Why do you even bother arguing any more?" queried his companion dryly, sounding far too amused for Snape's tastes. "That old man has you pegged. Give him five minutes and he'd talk you into dating Trelawney."

"It's the principle of the thing," he replied darkly. "And never mention that crazed woman in my presence."

"Oh, come on. I thought it was really funny when she tried to Palm-Read you last week during lunch. I never would have guessed that your fate was one of '_frightful hardships, battling the darkness clinging to your life_'. Honestly. Who could see that coming?" The younger man's grey eyes glittered with amusement, though he maintained a blankly innocent expression through sheer force of will.

"She should have _foreseen_ the Paranoia Potion in her tea, then, shouldn't she?"

"One of your better ideas, I have to admit. I never thought it would work so well. Really. Trelawney, on vacation?"

Severus smirked. "My lifelong dream."

The floo fireplaces were surprisingly uncrowded today, witches and wizards appearing only every five to ten minutes, and Severus supposed that it was because it was so late in the morning; travel would probably pick up in the afternoon. Thus, when one of the arrival fireplaces flared green, his attention was drawn to it immediately, just in time to see a strangely dressed, dark-haired individual pitch face-first out of the flames.

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There was no way to judge time's passing inside the sickening whirlwind of green flames, and Yuusuke soon gave up on trying at all. He had left the Japanese Ministry of Stick-Bearing-Miscreants at sometime near six in the evening, and he reminded himself that he would need to check how much time had passed once he arrived in England.

If he _ever_ arrived. If he survived the Carnival Ride from Hell.

Blurred images whipped past, veiled by tongues of green flame, and it took a few long minutes before he realized, past the dizzy swirling of his thoughts, that he was looking out of fireplaces. His demonic sight allowed him to catch a few half-formed scenes: an old woman with a cat, a child on a rug, a man reading a newspaper. At first, the scenes had swirled past too quickly for him to make out more than basic shapes, but then it seemed as though the maelstrom of flame was slowing.

And he was hurled out of green fire into bright white light, his nose on a crash course for a gleaming expanse of dark, hardwood floor.

One arm shot out in front of him to break his momentum. His palm slapped hard against the cold floor, his chin tucking against his chest, and his shoulders struck the ground hard as he executed a tight somersault, his momentum rolling him forward and upward into a one-knee kneel. Almost as an afterthought, he reached out with his other hand to steady himself against the floor as he waited for the world to stop spinning.

"Whoa..."

There were reiki signatures all around, most of them distant enough so that he was not immediately on his guard, but two were nearer than the others and drawing closer. He clenched his eyes shut, shook his head in an ineffective bid to regain his equilibrium, and forced himself to rise to his feet naturally, swearing that he would never again agree to such a hellish way of travel. He would much rather call Puu from the Makai and hitch an international flight home on the back of the giant blue phoenix. (1)

The two reiki signatures belonged to two men, each as different as night from day. One was nearly a head taller than Yuusuke, clad in worn black robes, with long, black hair that was stringy with grease, paper-pale skin, and a nose that put Puu's beak to shame. The second was younger, nearly equal in height with Yuusuke, with shoulder-length hair so blond it was nearly white and grey eyes that reminded Yuusuke of Youko Kurama's eyes: cool, calculating, and always amused at a private joke to which no one else was privy.

Well, he was definitely in a place frequented by wizards. Now, were these the _right_ wizards?

"Albus Dumbledore?" he asked cautiously. It came out as _Arubus Dumburu-dor_, but hopefully one of the pair would get the gist.

The taller man sneered and spouted off a string of meaningless syllables. Yuusuke caught the words 'damn', 'Albus' and 'English' and promptly lost hope for any semblance of a comprehensible conversation.

Surprisingly enough, the younger man stepped forward, dipping his head in a sort of half-bow.

"_Boku no namae wa Maru-foi Dureiko desu. Douzo yoroshiku."_

Yuusuke blinked and returned the bow. He certainly had not been expecting _that_.

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Draco Malfoy bit back a satisfied smirk. It was _such_ a good feeling when he was able to get the drop on Severus. It did not happen nearly often enough, and the dumbfounded expression on the older man's face was more than worth the annoyance of acting as the translator for this outing.

Of course, anything was better than being cooped up in the castle for the rest of the summer. With Voldemort's increased activity in the past months, Dumbledore had forbade any of the castle residents from going on solitary outings.

There was also the bonus that the stranger had aroused Draco's curiosity. After Severus' explanation that this Urameshi person had never used a wand yet was skilled in something called '_wandless energy manipulation',_ Draco was intrigued, wondering what the Headmaster's plans were regarding him.

The foreigner seemed just as surprised as Severus at Draco's greeting, if not more so, but he hid it quickly, introducing himself. _"Urameshi Yuusuke. I'm pleased to meet you, Malfoy-_san

_"Call me Draco. I'm one of the Defense Against the Dark Arts professors."_ Draco glanced sidelong at Severus, who seemed put-out that he could not understand the conversation. _"This is Severus Snape, the Potions professor. We were sent to pick you up._ Severus, stop glaring. You look like you're about to hex him."

The older man's glare lessened by a single increment (becoming his I-Would-Rather-Be-Anywhere-Else-But-Here-And-I'll-Make-Sure-Everyone-Knows-It Glare instead of his I-Feel-Like-Hurting-Something-Right-Now-And-You-Make-A-Very-Tempting-Target Glare). "I was unaware that you were bilingual," he admitted grudgingly, which was as close as he would get to asking outright how exactly Draco was fluent in Japanese.

"I'm a Malfoy," replied Draco easily. "I was taught how to make polite small-talk in nearly seven languages by the time I was eight."

"Well, stop wasting my time with _small talk,_ and let's go. I have better things to do than stand around while you chat it up with the latest scruffy addition to the Hogwarts menagerie."

The Japanese man's gaze flicked between Draco and the Potion's Master, his eyes narrowed slightly. Draco noticed the odd color of the man's irises, an interesting shade of brown that could be mistaken for a dark red. Add that to his soot-stained robes (What sort of clothes _were_ those? Draco certainly was not familiar with the cut.) and his almost ridiculously long hair, long bands hanging messily around his face, and he supposed that Severus was somewhat justified in describing the other as 'scruffy.'

Of course, the stranger's unexpected display of agility and reflexes upon exiting the floo had also identified him as a fighter of some sort. Any other wizard Draco knew would have cracked their skull open had they exited the floo in such a manner.

_"Don't mind him,"_ said Draco, waving dismissively at the still-scowling Potions Master. _"I don't think he has any expression in his repertiore that isn't based on a scowl."_

_"Reminds me of a friend of mine."_ Urameshi smirked. _"Does he grunt instead of answering questions?"_

_"Yes."_

_"I feel at home already."_

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While he hardly felt safe enough to relax (Nearly every person he saw had one of those damned sticks in their hand!), Yuusuke managed to unwind somewhat as he followed the two men to the other side of the huge room... until he realized that they were heading straight for another fireplace, one of many lining the walls of the room.

Surely not...

"Where are we going?" he asked the blond man... Draco, he reminded himself.

The other glanced over at him. "Severus has some errands to run in Diagon Alley... it's a place in wizarding London... and then we're to drop you off at a safehouse until the school wards are renewed thoroughly."

"We're going through the fireplace?" The apprehensive _...again?_ hung on the end of the query so obviously that the blond wizard caught it easily and could not help but chuckle.

"Yes. Didn't you enjoy it? Most wizards consider it a popular pastime, hopping back and forth between places just to experience the floo."

Yuusuke wondered if he looked as green as he felt. "You're joking."

"I am." Draco was smirking openly, clearly amused. "Floo is a hellish way to travel, but you get used to it. Eventually."

"I don't believe you."

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Severus stepped from the floo into the dingy interior of the Leaky Cauldron with his usual deliberate ease. He had gone years without face-planting upon exiting the floo, and he was not in any hurry to have that change, thank you very much. The various patrons of the bar glanced up in idle curiosity, and the bartender Tom spared him a nod and polite smile, neither of which were returned.

The fireplace flared again, and the foreigner Urameshi exited with slightly more grace than his last attempt, looking somewhat dazed and drawing no small amount of attention by his clothing and general appearance. Another moment, and Draco stepped out of the flames with all the poise and dignity that came with being raised a Malfoy.

Severus strode for the back exit of the Leaky Cauldron without a backwards glance. He could not wait to rid himself of the strange boy with the knee-length hair and garnet eyes, and if it meant rushing his visit to the apothecary, then so be it.

Soft footsteps followed behind him as he entered the back alley that led into Diagon Alley. Draco was conversing with Urameshi in small spurts of incomprehensible gibberish that grated on Severus' nerves, especially when he could occasionally catch his own name amongst the other sounds.

No wonder Albus had insisted he bring the younger man along. Severus sometimes wondered whether Albus had the blood of a True Seer in his veins; it would certainly explain how the old man always seemed to know everything.

The Potions Master drew his wand from where it was concealed in a sheath on his forearm and rapped the tip impatiently against the correct brick. The wall went through it's normal show of bricks folding and flipping out of the way, and he took the chance to resheath his wand, glaring at the delay. The bricks at last fell into place, and the newly-formed archway seemed to exude an air of pride at its accomplishment.

"Bloody showoff," he groused, striding forward.

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When Genkai had told him that the oddities at the Japanese Ministry of Magic were _'the least of what's ahead'_, he had not really taken her words to heart. Now, though, Yuusuke was realizing just how right the old martial artist had been.

People clad in robes bustled back and forth across the wide roadway stretching before him. Voices were raised in a cacophony that he was not certain he would be able to understand even if he was fluent in English. Owls fluttered overhead, letting out shrill cries, some carrying envelopes, others packages, and Yuusuke restrained himself from asking about the phenomenon, telling himself that he would probably find out later whether he wanted to or not. The overwhelming scent of humans lay over everything, along with the smells of animals and food and a faint scent like that of lightning which he was coming to associate with magic. There were wands all over the place, making his instincts sit up and pay close attention, and stalls were set on the sides of the road, selling odd things that Yuusuke was unable to identify, and the Toushin was almost certain that he was better off not knowing.

He followed closely beside Draco and behind Snape, whose mood seemed only to worsen as time wore on.

"This is Diagon Alley?" he asked in an attempt to ignore all of the strange looks that his foreign garb was drawing.

"It is. The wizarding shopping district of London," replied the blond. "Anything magical that money can buy can be found here... or in Knockturn Alley, but I don't suggest you explore there on your own. It can get a bit rough."

"And why are we here now?"

"Severus is a Potions Master, and he needs a few ingredients." Draco's mouth quirked into the smallest of smiles. "It won't take long. He hates crowds with a passion. By the time we get into the shop, he'll probably be passing us on the way back out, ready to leave."

Potions? "What sort of ingredients?"

The blond wizard tilted his head slightly to one side in a sort of shrug. "Probably basic things. Bat livers, veela hair, ivera blood, fox claws..."

Yuusuke resisted the urge to wrinkle his nose. "And you can make things out of that?"

"Of course. It's a very respected profession. Everything from medicines to pranks to poisons. Almost anything you can do with a wand you can do with a potion. Wands are just quicker... and less expensive."

Ahead of them, Snape veered into a small, dark shop that seemed to skulk between its two neighbors. Like a bat coming home to its cave, thought Yuusuke wryly, and followed Draco inside.

Snape had already disappeared into the maze of shelves and their various arrays of bags, bottles, and boxes. Yuusuke took a long minute to examine several clear jars on a nearby shelf, containing small, shriveled things floating in an unidentifiable liquid, and he decided that he really _was_ better off not knowing what the Roman letters on the jar's label said.

"Rabbit testicles," came Draco's voice, sounding darkly amused.

Yuusuke grimaced and stepped away from that shelf, hefting the small pack he bore higher on his shoulder.

Draco smirked at his discomfort and continued. "Most of the cheap fertility potions require them. More expensive ones need the placenta of a newborn griffin, but---"

"Don't make me hurt you."

Yuusuke ignored the wizard's satisfied chuckle and wandered down one of the dimly-lit aisles, scanning the various displays without any real interest. Draco followed behind him, occasionally picking up a jar to have a closer look at the contents.

He was halfway down his third row of shelves when he felt a prickling at the edge of his mind, and he froze in the middle of the aisle, stretching out his senses, searching...

"Yuusuke?"

He turned toward the back of the shop, following the dim spark of youki that lingered on the edge of his awareness, ignoring the puzzled blond wizard following at his heels. What was anything with demonic energy doing in a wizard shop?

Several turns later, he found himself at the back wall of the room, staring into a glass showcase with no small amount of dawning horror.

He could not read the labels, but he could still recognize many of the objects in the case: the hind paw of a kitsune (recognizeable by the sixth claw at the back of the paw, from an immature adolescent by the size), the claw, and part of a toe, from some specie of dragon (razor-sharp on both top and bottom, a feature unique to demon dragons), an eyeball with a scarlet iris and slit pupil (from a cat demon, perhaps?), the distinctive metal feathers of a demon shrike, and a pale, shrivelled hand complete with neatly-trimmed, triangular claws.

Other items were scattered upon the shelves, less easily identifiable. Scraps of skin and tufts of hair. Claws. Teeth. Scales and feathers. Bones and skulls. The entire display was lit from within, like some sickening trophy case.

A strange voice rasped something from far to his left, and he glanced up to see a bent old man, his hair a messy halo of grey strands, limping toward him, dark eyes weighing him.

"He's asking whether your interested in any of the items," translated Draco. Yuusuke glanced back at the morbid display, and his eyes followed his senses' guidance to one of the back corners of a lower shelf, to a small fold of dark cloth, upon which rested a small, smooth object that might have been mistaken for an oblong, grey stone.

Not by Yuusuke, though. Not by someone who could sense the waning spark of youki still residing in the small egg.

"That," said Yuusuke, his voice sounding odd in his own ears. "What sort of egg is that?"

Draco rattled off a long string of gibberish, and the old man snickered, showing stained teeth as he replied.

"He says that case holds all of his rarest ingredients. All of his demonic ingredients." Draco sounded dubious. "He's had that egg for years. It's from something called a heeriyu, a flying serpent of some kind."

"A _hiryuu_," murmured Yuusuke. In the Makai, they were called Wind Snakes, near-immortal serpents with feathery wings and one hell of a mean bite. They were little more than imp-class creatures, weaker than E-class, but they defended what they considered to be theirs with a fierceness that left higher level demons leery of them. "How much for it?"

When Draco translated this time, the old man laughed outright and barked something. Draco looked impressed.

"More money than you have on you, I'm sure," replied the blond wizard. "It isn't that important, is it? It's probably gone far beyond rotten by now."

Yuusuke growled. The thought of leaving an fetal demon alone in the shop to either die or become part of a potion experiment disgusted him. "Hardly," he replied tersely.

"Yuusuke, you could probably buy half the shops in Diagon Alley for what he wants for that egg. Let it go."

"No." Yuusuke remembered Kurama's comment about adding some gems from Yuusuke's hoard to the pack, and Yuusuke swung the small bag off of his shoulder, kneeling on the floor to rummage in the pack. He felt more than saw Snape's arrival behind Draco, and the Toushin ignored the tense conversation that ensued between the two.

There were the three robes, and further down he saw his hairbrush, his toothbrush and toothpaste... another hairband... a pouch of some sort, but not heavy enough to contain any sort of stone... and another pouch, this one heavy with many small, hard objects. He drew it out and undid the drawstring.

Light caught on the pouch's contents, and Yuusuke's eyes widened. Apparently, he and Kurama had different definitions of 'a few gems.' He easily identified a black opal, a demon emerald, a fire-ruby, several diamonds, and at least one demons-eye stone. Smaller stones had settled to the bottom of the pouch, and Yuusuke dug deeper, his suspicions proven right as his fingers closed around a small, chilled stone, drawing it out.

With smug satisfaction, he closed the pouch and replaced it in the pack, closing the larger bag and rising, settling it on his shoulder. Now, if only the shopkeeper was not ignorant about the value of certain stones.

He held up the small jewel between his thumb and forefinger, letting its sleek surface catch the light, winking like a star. Yuusuke was gratified to see the old man's eyes bug in disbelief and hear at least one startled intake of breath behind him.

"I take it he knows what this is."

The shopkeeper rattled off another string of English, and Draco translated, his voice sounding strained. "He's asking whether or not that's a real tear-stone of an ice demon."

Kurama, Yuusuke thought happily, you smug bastard, I really could kiss you right now.

"The old geezer's smarter than I gave him credit for. Tell him he's right. This is a bona fide hiroseki tear-gem from a koorime ice maiden. I'll trade it for the egg."

"For the _egg_?" asked Draco, sounding as though he had swallowed something wrong. "Do you have _any clue_ how much that gem's worth!"

Yuusuke suppressed a laugh. "I have a very good idea. Go on, ask him."

It seemed, though, that there was no need for Draco to translate, for the shopkeeper was already hobbling toward the case, his wand in hand. A muttered incantation later, and the glass front vanished, allowing the old man to reach in and pull out the egg, the glass reappearing a scant second later.

Yuusuke accepted the egg with a satisfied smirk, placing the tear-gem into the old man's trembling palm. "Nice doing business with you."

The shopkeeper bore an expression similar to that of a child catching his first glimpse of the presents waiting for him beneath the tree on Christmas morning. Turning, Yuusuke saw that Snape and Draco both looked as though they had just swallowed live jellyfish. He cradled the egg in one palm, covering it with his other hand, arching an eyebrow. "You look like you're about to be ill. Come on, aren't you ready to go yet?"

Snape's arms were full of jars and bottles of various sorts, but when he moved stiffly to pay for them, the shopkeeper merely laughed giddily and waved off any payment, his hand still closed tightly around his new acquisition even as he cast a spell that enclosed the ingredients in a bag for easy transportation.

Draco ranted all the way back down Diagon Alley.

"For an _egg?_ What were you _thinking?_ Those bloody stones are one of the rarest gems on Earth, and you gave it up for a stinking, rotten _egg?"_

Yuusuke rolled his eyes, feeding small, nourishing threads of youki and reiki into the small egg as he walked. "It isn't rotten, _baka._ Really, I think you and Snape should have snatched up as many ingredients as the old man would let you take while he was so happy with his new prize. Too late now, though."

Draco rolled his eyes heavenward. "Merlin, help me! You just gave up a stone worth nearly all the merchandise in Diagon Alley for a potions ingredient! You're insane!"

Yuusuke sent a cool glance toward the wizard. "I traded a gemstone for a life. Personally, I think I got the better end of the deal."

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**)) _To Be Continued..._ ((**

**(1): Puu... giant blue phoenix:** SPOILERS! When Yuusuke is killed (yes, _again_) and resurrected as a demon, Puu is transformed into a giant blue bird with red eyes, a long yellow-gold tail and a thick mane of black hair down his neck. He looks really awesome. Look it up!

**Boku no namae wa Maru-foi Dureiko desu. Douzo yoroshiku. :** My name is Malfoy Draco. I'm pleased to meet you.

**A/N:** Much thanks to everyone who helped me find that long-lost story! I truly appreciate it!

Next time on _Flawed_ ... Well, I'm not really sure what's coming next, so you'll just have to stick around and see!

**)) _Kurome Shiretsu_ ((**


	5. A Grim Old Place

**Title:** Flawed

**Rating:** PG-13 orT

**Summary:** Harry Potter/YYH crossover. When he is targeted by a group of magic-wielding strangers as a prize for their 'lord', Yuusuke discovers a gaping weakness in his demonic defenses. Luckily, Koenma has a plan to keep the Toushin safe, even if it involves sending Yuusuke undercover into a school full of wizards...

**Disclaimer: **I own neither Harry Potter nor Yu Yu Hakusho.

**Pairings:** None.

**Warnings:** Some violence, slight gore, and some smatterings of foul language.

**A/N:** Many people have been asking questions about this story, about the timeline, various characters, and why certain things have happened as they have. I'm _not_ ignoring those questions by any means, but those questions will be answered later on in the story, so just bear with me, ne?

**A/N 2:** Sorry about the long wait, but I've started college and don't have a PC yet. I have to do my writing in the Student Learning Center between classes and work, which is a pain, but I'm chugging along slowly. The slow updates won't last much longer; I should be getting my laptop in a week and a half, give or take, and then updates will be a bit faster. Thanks for hanging in there!

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**)) Chapter Five:_ A Grim Old Place_ ((**

Yuusuke resigned himself to yet another trip by floo, which was rapidly becoming number one on his Most Hated Things list, beating out Toguro and dying by a hefty margin. This time, however, the trip was made with Yuusuke cradling the fragile egg in his palms as he concentrated on ensuring a safe arrival for both himself and what could be considered his new charge.

Snape was waiting for him at the other end, scowling around the opulent if somewhat dusty and shabby sitting room as though the furniture had mortally offended him in some way. Mindful that he was blocking the exit from the fireplace, Yuusuke moved swiftly to one side, just in time to avoid a collision with Draco.

The blond wizard absently brushed soot off of his robes, his silver eyes scanning the room perfunctorily. "Welcome to Number Twelve Grimmauld Place," he said. "I expect we're the only ones here right now, but others will probably be dropping by every now and then. Severus and I have been assigned to keep you company until someone else comes."

Snape grumbled something. Yuusuke was not sure whether it was insulting to something or someone or merely an irritated complaint in general. Draco made some sort of reply before turning back to the Toushin.

"You might as well settle in. Nothing much around here to do other than explore the library, unless you'd rather sleep."

Yuusuke considered the slight headache growing behind his eyes and decided that, while the second option sounded tempting, it was hardly wise to let down his defenses in the still-uncertain company of the two wizards. Draco seemed friendly enough, but the blond wizard had been shooting him strange looks ever since they had left the apothecary, and Snape, sullen and withdrawn though he might be, had the unmistakable aura of someone who would make a deadly enemy. The black-eyed man seemed aware of everything around him down to the smallest details, and Yuusuke knew he would have to keep the secrets of his heritage close to his chest to avoid arousing the older man's suspicions.

They were his hosts, and they had been nothing but polite, but Yuusuke was deep within enemy territory, and he could not afford to make mistakes. Mistakes would achieve nothing except a failed mission and one dead Toushin.

Yuusuke shook himself out of such dark thoughts.

In any case, more tempting by far than the thought of sleep was the memory of the strange parcel he had found while searching through his pack in the apothecary shop; he suspected that it might contain some of Kurama's special herbs meant to soothe pain or aid in healing for demons --Ever since Yuusuke had been resurrected as a demon, he found that human pain medications just did not work for him anymore.

"Sounds good," he replied. "Show me where to go, and I'll get out of your way."

As he ascended the stairs from the entrance hall with all the natural silence of a demonically agile martial artist (Draco had warned him of the consequences of making any sort of loud noise in _that_ particular room), his mission briefing with Koenma replayed itself vividly through his mind.

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_"Oh, no. You're going to teach."_

_Yuusuke blinked, pondering the unlikely possibility that he had not heard his employer correctly. "...teach?"_

_"Dumbledore assures Genkai that he will be more than capable of finding you a place on his staff. Once he heard of your troubles with Voldemort, he was more than willing to hire you." Koenma's eyes held an amused glint. "He's probably dying of curiousity over _why_ Voldemort wants to get his hands on you so badly."_

_A flicker of irritation prickled in Yuusuke's chest. He barely resisted growling as he spat, "Are you _completely_ nuts?"_

_Koenma jumped, startled. "Yuusuke--"_

_"You _are_ nuts! It's a freakin' miracle that I passed high school at all; how in the seven levels of Meikai do you expect _me_ to be able to teach _math_, much less magic, to a school full of _wizards? _If you put me in such a bad position from the beginning, then the odds of me surviving this nightmare are _less_ than nil!"_

_Koenma waited with ill grace until the tirade ended, his pacifier bobbling as he chewed on it restlessly. "You're remarkable faith in my mental capacity nonwithstanding, I _do_ want you to succeed. Haven't you heard what I've been saying? Dumbledore knows that you don't know magic. He knows you're from a different discipline. He's _expecting_ you to be abnormal, and that expectation will allow you to slip up every now and again without dire repercussions... _if_, that is, you can hold that charming temper of yours on a nice, short leash long enough to complete the mission!"_

_Beside the doorway, the dark shadow that was the Jaganshi snorted. Yuusuke growled._

_Koenma smiled stiffly. "I'm glad that we could clear that up. Any questions?"_

_Yuusuke conceded the point irritably. "Why a school?"_

_"Hogwarts isn't 'a school.' It's 'Dumbledore's school,' and as insane as Voldemort may be, he's not insane enough to take on _the_ most powerful wizard in over a century. Because of it's wards and Dumbledore's influence, Hogwarts has become something of a bastion of the Light. It's the heart of the war against Voldemort and, incidentally, the safest place on earth for someone hunted by Death Eaters."_

_"I just have to survive not-so-friendly fire _inside_ the 'bastion of the Light' until the mission is over." Yuusuke mentally tallied all his recent missions and decided that _this_ one was more hairbrained than all of the others combined. "You _still_ haven't said what you actually want me to do. Kill Moldy-Whatsit or get the scroll? Which is it?"_

_The infant god huffed around the bulbous shape of his pacifier. "Voldemort is incidental. Villain chump change. If there's a low-risk opportunity to take him out... do it. Otherwise, see what you can find out, find the Akumano scroll, and get it _away_ from the humans. Steal it, burn it, or run it through a paper shredder and give it to that bird of yours to use in a nest, but we _cannot _leave that lying around for someone else to find."_

_Yuusuke smirked. "And once I've gotten the scroll and the nice wizards and the not-so-nice wizards are duking it out?"_

_Koenma arched an eyebrow. "What do you think? Get the hell out of the way."_

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As it turned out, Yuusuke was assigned to a bedroom located on the second of many floors, in a room that was dark, gloomy, and home to at least three things that enjoyed Going Bump in the Night: a mouse (shortly released into the basement by the Toushin), a hairbrush that insisted on combing the fringe lining the edges of a blanket atop the bed (incinerated by justified use of the room's fireplace), and one unknown being or object that was still wearing on the demon's frayed nerves nearly three days later.

The house was insane!

While exploring the rather sizeable library late in the afternoon on the first day, he had been bitten _--bitten!--_ by a chair! The next morning, after brushing against a set of curtains, he had been dive-bombed by a strange, furry, winged creature that he later discovered was called a _doxie._ While searching through his room's closet that night, he had been attacked by a swathe of purple cloth that had tried, unsuccessfully, to strangle him.

When he had gone to Draco with the latest incident --otherwise known as _"the straw that pissed the camel off to extreme proportions",-- _the blond wizard had seemed only mildly surprised. "Thought the Weasleys had gotten all those old cloaks out of there," he had said. "Just tuck it in a box somewhere. Someone'll find it during spring cleaning."

Yuusuke did not bother to inform the wizard that the so-called 'cloak' (What sort of lunatic made a cloak meant to strangle people anyway?) had been relegated to the bottom of the oldest, dustiest wardrobe the Toushin could find... along with the body of one squished doxie and the battered remains of an ill-tempered chair.

Not only was Yuusuke on his guard from furry, poisonous _pseudo-_insects, rabid furniture, and murderous clothing, he also had to deal with that bedamned portrait in the entrance hall downstairs, the one of that ugly _oban_ who just could not learn to _shut up._ Whenever anyone so much as sneezed in that room, the portrait sprang to life and set about screaming fit to tumble the walls down, and that one portrait in turn set off all the other portraits lining the hall. If Yuusuke knew who had come up with the bright idea of allowing paintings to speak, he would hunt the bastard down in Reikai and force the idiot to listen to the ear-piercing rants of the late Mrs. Black... and then the Toushin would kill the dunderhead _again_ to make sure he had gotten his point across.

It was nearly three in the morning during his third night in the Funhouse from Hell when he was yanked rudely from a light doze (all he could manage in such bizarre surroundings) by the latest shrieks of the _oban_ portrait.

Feeling like his ears were about to bleed and already ill-tempered from the near-perpetual headache that had haunted him since his arrival, the Toushin threw his blankets to one side, letting out a furious bellow of "_Damn it!"_

He left the _hiryuu_ egg nestled safely among his clothes in his bag in front of the dully lit fireplace (the _hiryuu_ needed warmth to recover enough to hatch) and stormed out of his room, intent on experiencing at least _one_ night of undisturbed sleep in the wizard hellhole, one way or another.

The noise increased exponentially when he slammed his door open, as though Yuusuke had stepped into a solid wall of sound, the result of the combined screams of Mrs. Black and all the other entrance hall portraits combined. The reason for the portrait's awakening was obvious upon stepping onto the balcony overlooking the entrance hall. Clad in ragged gray robes, untidy strands of gray-brown hair falling around a wan face, a man that Yuusuke recognized as one of the many 'comers and goers' of Number Twelve Grimmauld Place struggled to close the moldy curtains of the screaming portrait... and it did not seem as though he were making much progress.

Yuusuke strode down the aged, uneven stairs, foregoing the last few feet by simply vaulting over the bannister. Feeling more as though he were deaf than simply overloaded by noise, he grabbed the stranger's shoulder and pulled him away from the curtains. "Shut up those other paintings! I'll deal with _her!"_

The stranger pulled away from Yuusuke's grip, tawny eyes wide with surprise, but after a short second of hesitation, he turned and began rapidly to stun the other portraits as Yuusuke said. The Toushin, in turn, faced the singularly unnattractive visage of the late Madame Black.

Grabbing fistfuls of moldy cloth in either hand, he tugged forcefully on the curtains, his demonic strength overpowering whatever magic was at work trying to keep the curtains open, and the screams of the _oban_ shut off, leaving the house silent save for the weak wails of one of the smaller portraits on the end of the row, and a swift spell from the golden-eyed man ended _that_ quickly enough.

Yuusuke glared up at the ancient curtains, wishing that he was not under cover so he could blow the damned thing straight off the wall... or, hell, straight _through _the wall. He was not picky. "I'd call you a hag," he growled, "but that would be insulting Genkai."

"You're stronger than you look."

Yuusuke turned to face the friendly --if a bit weighing-- gaze of the brown-haired man. The scents of lightning and fur and illness hund heavily around him, and Yuusuke wondered if he had pet dogs, because that was certainly what he smelled like... that, and like a human with a bad cold. "I get that a lot." Yuusuke took in the weariness apparent in the man's stance and the sickly color of his skin, but decided that whatever the problem was, it could not be anything too dire since he could not smell the stale scent of Reikai around him; Koenma did so love to have his ferrygirls check up on those soon-to-be-deceased. "You know Japanese?"

The man chuckled ruefully. "Not naturally. Today only, I'm afraid, or any other day that I can convince Albus or Filius to perform the charm. I'm Remus Lupin." He smiled self-consciously. "Sorry about... her. I'm afraid that I closed one of the doors too forcefully."

"Yuusuke Urameshi." He dipped his head in a sort of half-bow; Draco and Severus had gotten very tired of bowing as a Japanese courtesy very quickly. "And it's no problem."

"A pleasure to meet you. Since Draco and Severus are out for the day, I'm here to fill in."

Yuusuke frowned. "Out?" He reached out with his senses, searching through the dizzying tangle of reiki signatures and finding that Lupin's assertion was correct. It explained why he was not currently explaining to two ill-tempered, sleep deprived wizards why Madame Black had woken up, but still! "Out where?" He had not even heard them leave! What would they need to leave for in the dead hours of the night?

"A meeting at the school." Lupin waved the question away with practiced nonchalance, and Yuusuke's instincts perked up, filing the tidbit away pending further research. A school meeting in the middle of the night? Kuwabara would have caught the lie in that. "Grades from last year, that sort of thing. Boring, really."

"Yeah." Yuusuke was already planning possible ways to attend a 'school meeting.' "Boring."

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Yuusuke was reading in the library for most of the next day. Regardless of how friendly the wizard may have seemed, something about Lupin set Yuusuke's instincts clamoring in his head, and until he could figure out why, avoidance was the best policy. He tracked the other man's reiki signature as it muddled about on the first floor of the sizeable house, going between the kitchen, the sitting room, and the wizard's bedroom at random, lengthy intervals. At the first sign of the wizard attempting to enter Yuusuke's room, Yuusuke would have intervened, but his bag now held little more than 'muggle' items. The gems and the package of herbs from Kurama were tucked into the front of his robe, and the hiryuu egg was nestled snugly inside his sash against his belly --the area he would guard instinctively in a fight.

Despite the Japanese-English language barrier that still plagued him, there were books in the library that were very interesting nonetheless. Moving pictures of dragons and wizards and strange creatures that were like and unlike demons all at once-- it was a treasure trove of knowledge that Kurama would have sacrificed a tail to explore.

... especially considering that the kitsune thief would have been able to actually_ read_ the damn things, thought Yuusuke darkly as he looked between the picture of a man swallowing what looked to be a spiny teapot blowing square-shaped bubbles and the small section of Roman text that would have explained what in the four worlds the strange picture _meant._

_Ba-dump. Bump-thump._

Yuusuke's eyes twitched toward the sizeable, free-standing cabinet looming in the corner of the room. He had thought that he had heard a scratching noise from the cabinet earlier, but he had dismissed it as a threat when he had felt no youki or reiki other than the standard muddle of energy signatures that lay over everything, leaving his demon side twitchy, irritable, and longing for a good brawl.

_Thump. Thump-ba-dump._

There was no denying the fact that there was something in there, though, and it was against his nature to let puzzles go unsolved... even in an admittedly dangerous environment that sported biting chairs, poisonous pixies, and homicidal cloaks.

Setting his book down on a nearby table, a spindly piece of work that did not seem as though it would support it's own weight, let alone that of a book, Yuusuke rose from the lumpy chair and stretched the kinks out of his spine, his eyes intent on the cabinet. He would not be doing any harm. Draco had assured him that the _last_ thing anyone wanted was unknown threats lurking around, and the more doxies and strangling cloaks were done away with, the better.

He approached the cabinet with the air of a cat stalking a mouse, feeling his youki levels rise slightly within him with each new bump from the unknown entity within.

_Bump-thump._

Settling his hand lightly on the handle, feeling the cool metal scales of the stylized serpents' head, he waited, taking in slow, even breaths, his eyes intent and shaded with a bit more red than they had been a moment before. He waited... waited...

Yuusuke wrenched the door open, his free hand loaded with enough reiki to blow the entire cabinet to splinters if something meaner than one of those _doxy_ things came out, but he was unprepared for the wave of blue energy that hurled him across the room and onto the dainty lamp-table he had set his book on mere moments before, shattering the wood spectacularly.

The Toushin was moving before conscious thought had caught up with events, rolling to one side, sending splinters of polished wood flying, and getting his feet back underneath himself as he spun to confront whatever abnormality the house had chosen to throw at him now, his arms raised in preparation for an attack.

Narrowed garnet eyes rose and met a feral ruby gaze that was as familiar... as his own.

Yuusuke no longer possessed a human heart, but if he had, he was certain that it would have stopped. "What the _hell--"_

Across the room, wild hair highlighted in the rays of the afternoon sun falling through the windows, the Toushin chuckled, fangs glinting, as he raised one black-striped arm to lick lazily at the blood staining his hands red.

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**)) _To Be Continued..._ ((**

**_Oban:_** bitchy old hag

**_Youjutsu:_** black art, sorcery (Here, probably translated better as 'demonic arts')

**A/N:** Thanks to everyone who helped me find that long-lost story! I really appreciate it, and I feel so loved! Warm fuzzy feelings to all who reviewed!

**))_ Kurome Shiretsu _((**


	6. Hallucinogenic Silly Putty

**Title:** Flawed

**Rating:** PG-13 or T

**Summary:** Harry Potter/YYH crossover. When he is targeted by a group of magic-wielding strangers as a prize for their 'lord', Yuusuke discovers a gaping weakness in his demonic defenses. Luckily, Koenma has a plan to keep the Toushin safe, even if it involves sending Yuusuke undercover into a school full of wizards...

**Disclaimer: **I own neither Harry Potter nor Yu Yu Hakusho.

**Pairings:** None.

**Warnings:** Some violence, slight gore, and some smatterings of foul language.

**Note:** I use _italic_ text to denote either stressed words or _Japanese _being spoken when the point-of-view is that of someone who knows Japanese and English (if the point of view is from someone limited to Japanese, then there will be no italics). **Bold** is used when someone is speaking in a **Makai dialect **("Mission X" readers will be familiar with this).

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**)) Chapter Six:_ Hallucinogenic Silly Putty_ ((**

**)) _Previously on _Flawed... ((**

_Yuusuke wrenched the door open, his free hand loaded with enough reiki to blow the entire cabinet to splinters if something meaner than one of those _doxy _things came out, but he was unprepared for the wave of blue energy that hurled him across the room and onto the dainty lamp-table he had set his book on mere moments before, shattering the wood spectacularly._

_The Toushin was moving before conscious thought had caught up with events, rolling to one side, sending splinters of polished wood flying, and getting his feet back underneath himself as he spun to confront whatever abnormality the house had chosen to throw at him now, his arms raised in preparation for an attack._

_Narrowed garnet eyes rose and met a feral ruby gaze that was as familiar... as his own._

_Yuusuke no longer possessed a human heart, but if he had, he was certain that it would have stopped. "What the _hell_--"_

_Across the room, wild hair highlighted in the rays of the afternoon sun falling through the windows, the Toushin chuckled, fangs glinting, as he raised one black-striped arm to lick lazily at the blood staining his hands red._

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Blood...

Yuusuke's disbelieving eyes traced the crimson drops as they slipped down the tan skin, racing toward the open air that separated them from the floor only to be caught short by the pink tongue that lapped at them as though they were the spilled drops of some succulent wine.

A metallic odor permeated the air, turning Yuusuke's battle-hardened stomach through several flips.

Not just blood.

_Human_ blood.

Ruby eyes watched the horror dawning on his face with no small amount of amusement. Lips parted in a manic grin, showing sharp fangs. The mouth moved, shaping words... words from the depths of Makai.

_**... They were delicious ...**_

Memories flashed before him: his first transformation, meeting his demon father Raizen face-to-face for the first time, and explanations, so many explanations...

Toushin.

Battle demon.

Son of Raizen.

Raizen, who had starved to death because he had refused to eat the flesh of humans.

Keiko and Kuwabara... Genkai... From beneath the pool of shock and horror weighing heavily in Yuusuke's chest, a small bubble of anger surfaced and began to grow.

The Toushin look-alike started toward him, footsteps making no noise on a floor covered in shards of broken wood.

No noise... Yuusuke's eyes narrowed. No noise, no reiki or youki signature --not even during the earlier attack,-- and no scent save for that of... mist?

Yuusuke bared his own fangs in response to the other's smirk.

"You're not real." Yuusuke gathered fistfuls of his raw reiki in his palms. "You're not me. _I'm_ me, and one me is more than enough!"

Blue-white reiki sizzled through the air... and shattered the cabinet and singed the wall that stood behind where the look-alike had stood a mere second before. Yuusuke blinked, brushing his bangs out of his eyes as he scanned the room.

Surely it could not be that easy...

Icy fingers traced down the vulnerable flesh of his neck, and Yuusuke froze, his instincts of self-preservation screaming that he should submit even as he was pulled forcefully back against a hard, cold chest, strands of long hair that was not his own brushing his cheek. A hand brushed lightly over his hair, and a tattooed cheek pressed closely against his own, lips forming more silent words that rang as loudly as thunder.

_**... You're so weak ... Little half-breed, little bastard half-breed ...**_

Breath caught in Yuusuke's chest as icy breath caressed his ear. The grip tightened on his throat, enough to steal air from his lungs and bruise his flesh.

_**... Didn't you know that playing with humans makes you weak? ...**_

A thready, defiant growl built in his chest. "Get... your hands... off... me..."

_**... I'll make you strong, little half-breed ...**_

A ruby eye appeared on the edge of his dimming vision, blood-red iris alight with laughter.

_**... I'll let you hear them scream ... All your little human playmates ... I'll even let you taste their blood ...**_

A hoarse cry of rage tore from Yuusuke's throat even as his mingled youki and reiki flared around his body, flinging the apparition away, but instead of impacting a wall, the look-alike twisted impossibly in midair and regained its footing, fanged smirk still firmly in place. One striped arm rose, and Yuusuke ducked hastily out of the way of a bolt of sizzling blue energy that left heat brushing hungrily at Yuusuke's skin but no trace of youki to the detective's senses.

Yuusuke's skin tingled with a sensation near pain as his demon marks fought to show themselves. Low-class, hissed his demonic instincts furiously. The look-alike was a shape-shifter, or an illusion, and whatever was behind its creation valued its life far too little if it wished to challenge a _true _child of the battle demon clan!

Yuusuke's own hands rose, but he forced down the youki that was far too willing to answer his call and summoned up more pure reiki than he had had need for since before he had been resurrected as a demon. "Fake!" he spat derisively. "You make ogres look like A-class! You can't even summon real youki!"

The look-alike's smile grew. The not-Toushin's outlined blurred, and suddenly Yuusuke was staring his demon-self in the eye, feeling the chill emanating from its body wafting against his arms and face.

_**... I'm real to you ...**_

And then startled ruby eyes darted down to the palm Yuusuke had laid flat on the thing's chest, and Yuusuke smirked. "Not for long."

Blazing white light flared around his hand, and the creature let out an inhuman shriek that outdid Madame Black's by miles. It tried to shrink away, shriveling at the edges like a paper caught in a flame, but Yuusuke's free hand lashed out and gripped its neck, trapping it against his reiki-charged hand. Black-striped arms came up to scrabbled against his wrists, and the tan faded slowly from the thing's skin, becoming pale yellow, then gray, and the entire creature was shriveling away, still screaming.

Yuusuke drew in hissing breaths between his clenched teeth as he fought the painful tingle building in his palm. He was accustomed to channeling massive amounts of energy, but focusing such a high concentration of it continuously through one section of skin was going to leave an irritating burn. Damn this house and everything to do with it!

He dropped the creature when it had become nothing more than a shapeless blob of black putty dangling from his hands; it hit the floor with a squishy _thud_ that was unlike anything Yuusuke had ever heard. He spared a glance at his right palm, frowning at the angry, red skin that glowered up at him reproachfully. "Well, shit," he muttered, and his frown grew when he realized that his throat was sore as well where the thing had gripped him. "Fox's going to have to send weekly shipments of medicine if I keep _this _up."

He transferred his frown to the quivering, softball-sized mass of... thing... and sneered. "You're lucky Hiei isn't here," he growled. "I'd have him _kokuryuuha_ your ass to Meikai for that stunt... In fact, I'm so pissed off right now I could probably manage it through willpower alone."

The thing shivered and squeaked, shrinking away and curling even smaller. Yuusuke crouched down and prodded it roughly with one finger, making an indent in its side that soon filled in once more. Small tendrils of smoke still rose from it whenever it attempted to move, and the air reeked of burnt tar and fear. "What in Enma's name _are_ you anyway? Hallucinogenic Silly Putty from Hell...?Wouldn't be surprised; you'd kinda' fit in with the rest of the decor."

"A boggart."

A reiki signature seemed suddenly to hover entirely too close for the Toushin's comfort, and Yuusuke found himself rising and whirling around with arms at the ready to face a dazed looking Remus Lupin. The wizard seemed to spare only a mild moment of concern over Yuusuke's jumpiness, instead focusing on the twitching blob of... stuff.

"No one has ever seen one in its original form, though," continued the man in an odd tone of voice. "It normally takes a _riddikulus_ spell to subdue them. Congratulations."

Yuusuke resisted the almost overwhelming urge to say something flippant (_"That's me, Yuusuke Urameshi, spirit detective extrordinaire, saving the world and doing the impossible, and not even getting paid for it. Want an autograph?"_). Instead, he settled for a dark growl of, "Fascinating things you have lurking around here."

"I thought Severus or Draco would have gotten rid of it. You've never seen one before?"

"Most of what I deal with doesn't screw around with stuff in my head." Except Hiei, that was, but the Jaganshi was a special case.

The older man's tawny eyes were intent. "Boggarts feed off of fear... your worst fear. That wasn't human, I take it?"

Yuusuke's eyes narrowed severely. "You might say that." He found himself thanking whatever normally-incompetent _kami_ was watching over him for ensuring that his demon form and his human form, while similar, were still drastically different to anyone who did not know any better.

The wizard seemed to accept that. Lupin drew his wand and muttered something, and a glass jar of some sort appeared where a splinter of wood had been moments before. The wizard then waved the wand again, and the blob of whatever-the-hell-the-damn-thing-was floated into the air and into the container, which Lupin then sealed with a cork conjured from a piece of lint.

With an amused smile, the wizard offered the jar to Yuusuke. "Did you want it? It would make a unique pet."

Yuusuke grimaced. "That's all right. You can have it."

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It was late on Yuusuke's fifth day at Number Twelve Grimmauld Place when he found himself face to face with none other than Albus Dumbledore himself.

Seated in the downstairs study, Yuusuke was struggling through a rather simple book... a children's book, really, complete with large (moving) pictures on each page and large clear letters. Still, while he was able to make out a few of the Roman letters and decipher a few words, his efforts were mostly in vain. He had thought that continued exposure to written English words would spark some recognition in him from his bygone language lessons, but it seemed that, typically, he would have to go about things the hard way.

The unique rush of someone flooing brushed his ears, and a new energy signature appeared in his mind. The brilliant blaze of reiki paused somewhere in the sitting room and came toward the study, and the scent of lemons and lightning tickled Yuusuke's nose as his ears caught the softest of footsteps and the whisper of robes. He had already turned to face the doorway, one hand hanging casually at his side, free to form a ki blast should the newcomer prove a threat, before the stranger had even rounded the corner.

A mere moment later, Yuusuke found himself looking upon none other than the wizard upon whose protection he would be dependent during the upcoming months... complete with snowy beard, deviously twinkling eyes, and blindingly bright robes decorated with small, animated shooting stars.

A millisecond of consideration flashed by in the Toushin's head before he decided, despite his rather sizeable pride as a Demon Lord, that the humble approach would probably go over best.

He set his book down upon the table and rose to his feet, bowing deeply. "Dumbledore-_sama_. I'm honored to meet you."

His demonic instincts snarled furiously as he exposed the back of his neck to the wizard, submitting himself, but he soothed his demon side with the rationalization that he was merely bowing respectfully to another Lord while on his territory. Perfectly acceptable from a Makai standpoint. Humiliating and annoying, yes... but acceptable.

That did not change the fact that Dumbledore was human. Yuusuke could respect the special abilities of humans, and he could certainly be wary of them, but demons and spirits did not bend to human law, leaving Yuusuke a lot of leeway as far as his acquiescence to the human's will went.

Respect? Certainly. Yuusuke could easily _respect_ anyone who could wipe the floor with his carcass using only a little magical stick. But obedience?

Yuusuke snorted mentally.

Don't hold your breath, old man.

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Albus Dumbledore took in the sight of the latest addition to his Hogwarts' staff. Severus had been correct in his assessment of the young man's appearance bordering on 'bizarre', but Albus reflected that perhaps a better word would be 'exotic'. Long hair was pulled back in a messy tail, eyes of a reddish-brown shade glimmering beneath dark bangs. The Japanese man's robes were of a unique cut, white shirt and pants beneath some sort of black robe embroidered down one side with vines, and Albus toyed with the idea of buying a set of his own.

Purple, perhaps. With little yellow phoenixes. Fawkes would appreciate the humor, he was certain.

When the other man rose and bowed deeply, Albus hid his surprise as best he could, feeling at the same time a sensation of relief that he was able to understand every word that the other man uttered.

"Now, really, Mr. Urameshi, there's no need for such formalities." Albus smiled, reflecting that it felt truly odd to shape his mouth around syllables that he had never before spoken in his rather long life. "Albus will suffice quite nicely."

He hoped that Filius' language charm held for its full day-long period. It would be greatly inconvenient for the Japanese-English language barrier to suddenly rebuild itself during this interview... but he supposed that if worse came to worse he could call for Draco to translate. Perhaps he should ask whether Urameshi would like such a charm, despite the inconvenience of renewing it frequently. Filius would be on hand and willing to help, no doubt, but Hogwarts was a large place, and the charm would probably be more of a bother than a help.

Oh, well. They would find a solution sooner or later. Magic was a wondrous thing, after all.

Urameshi seemed startled at the headmaster's easy reply, but he recovered quickly, eyes narrowing speculatively. "Nobody told me that you spoke Japanese... but you have no accent, and that's rarer than Hiroseki for foreign speakers. Magic again, I guess? Like the spell Lupin-_san_ used?"

Albus smiled. "Indeed. The charms professor at Hogwarts is quite a gifted fellow. Filius Flitwick, as kind a wizard as you're likely to meet. Lemon drop?" The headmaster pulled a tin of the tiny sweets out of his robes, helping himself.

Urameshi eyed the tin. "No, thank you."

"Are you certain? They are quite delicious." He met the other's gaze, seeing unease and suspicion and so many other emotions behind the garnet eyes, and he delved slowly deeper, looking for something, anything, that would mean the young man was worthy of trust.

He had not delved even deep enough to read surface thoughts before he was brought up short by a blazing, mental shield of blue-white light, and Urameshi was glaring at him darkly enough to set his robes afire, his posture tense and one hand half-raised and... glowing?

"Don't do that again." The young man's voice held oceans' worth of threat. "There is only one person that's able and allowed to pull a stunt like that with me, and you are not him."

Urameshi's glower lost none of its venom as he strode past the venerable headmaster and into the dark, concealing depths of Grimmauld Place, and Albus had a feeling that it was in his own best interest in allowing the boy to go.

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**)) _To Be Continued..._ ((**

**))_ Kurome Shiretsu _((**


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